- Sayama Incident
The nihongo|Sayama Incident|狭山事件 is a murder case named after
Sayama City, Saitama Prefecure,Japan , where it took place. The incident, in which a man was imprisoned for 31 years, highlighted official discrimination against Japan'sBurakumin or untouchables.The murder
On
May 1 ,1963 , 16-year-old nihongo|Yoshie Nakata|中田 善枝|extra=bornMay 1 ,1947 went missing on her way home from school. [cite web|url=http://blhrri.org/blhrri_e/news/new122/new12202.html|title=No. 122|publisher=Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute|date=2002-01-29|accessdate=2008-04-30] Later that night, a ransom note was delivered to her house. The note asked to bring JPY200,000 (approximately US$556 at the time) to a place close to her house at 12:00am onMay 2 . Her sister (later committed suicide) brought the money to the designated place, with many policemen surrounding her. Although a man came to her and had several conversations, he escaped saying there are policemen around her. The police failed to arrest a possible suspect.In the morning on
May 4 , the dead body of the victim was found underground on an alley in a farm. Police determined that she was murdered aftersexual intercourse . The media criticized the police for making the same mistake of failing to catch the possible suspect within one month after another kidnapping case of Yoshinobu Murakoshi. On May 6, a neighborhood man committed suicide from unknown reason a day before his wedding (Japanese law admits that 16 years old women marry). He had the sameblood type of the suspect. [ [http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2007/2224/ UPDATE (Japan): Call for On-line petition for a justice of a man sentenced to death row by false accusation ] ]Arrest and trial
In order to cover up their mistake, the police went into a
Buraku community onMay 23 and arrested 24-year-old nihongo|Kazuo Ishikawa|石川 一雄|extra=born onJanuary 14 ,1939 on an unrelated charge. Although at first he denied the charge, fromJune 20 he began confessing that he had kidnapped and killed her. While in custody for over a month, the police forced Ishikawa to confess to the kidnapping in exchange for a number of unfulfilled promises.He, and his supporters, insist that the police forced him to make a false confession by isolating and threatening him for almost a month. As is often with the people from Burakumin villages, he could not read or write. [ [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20030415b3.html Confession-based convictions questioned | The Japan Times Online ] ] He also did not have the slightest knowledge of what a lawyer was. The police exploited that and made him suspicious by giving him false information about his lawyer. Finally the police succeeded in enforcing him to confess by a false promise that he will be freed within ten years if he confessed to the murder.
Mr Ishikawa was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, later changed to life imprisonment. He was paroled and released from prison in 1994. Along with his supporters, he is still seeking a fair retrial and the chance to clear his name. "I want the label of murderer, which is bearing so heavily on me, removed", Mr Ishikawa said in 2002. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0XPQ/is_2002_Jan_28/ai_84013821 Paroled murderer maintains innocence over 1963 Sayama case | Japan Policy & Politics | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ]
He remains guilty now. However, since he was a resident of a discriminated
burakumin socialminority , human rights groups and lawyers claimed that the courts made the assumption that he was the criminal. [cite web|url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060524b1.html|title=Man found guilty in '63 murder case seeks retrial|publisher=The Japan Times|date=2006-05-24|accessdate=2008-03-26]ee also
*
Iwao Hakamada References
External links
* [http://sayamaincident.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ Sayama Incident] - Supporter's site
* [http://www.imadr.org/sayama/ Sayama Case] - Detailed description of the case
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