Retrial of Iwao Hakamada, who was sentenced to death for the murder of four members of his family in Shizuoka Prefecture 58 years ago = It took more than 40 years for the trial to be redone, so the retrial was decided to avoid prolonging the trial. A rally was held to demand amendments to the law.
The rally held in Nagatacho, Tokyo was sponsored by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, which aims to revise the law regarding retrials, and was attended by family members of people who had been found guilty in the past, as well as members of the Diet.
The retrial system is stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Law, but unlike normal criminal trials, there are no specific rules for how the trial should proceed, leading to lengthy trials and hindering exoneration. There are also some indications.
In response to the launch of a bipartisan parliamentary group aiming to revise the law on the 11th, Hakamada's older sister Hideko said, ``For 48 years, my brother didn't have freedom.'' I hope the law reform moves in the right direction."
In addition, Keiko, the wife of Shoji Sakurai, who died last year after he was found not guilty in the retrial of the so-called ``Funokawa Incident'' in which a man was murdered in Ibaraki Prefecture 57 years ago, said, ``It was the long-awaited retrial of the victim and her husband.'' I am confident that the legal framework for this will be a great force for concrete progress."
After the meeting, Hideko said, ``We can't change all the laws that haven't changed for 70 years at once, but I hope we can move forward one step at a time.''