A False Charge Against Innocent	No.638 June 23, 2009
		Freedom is one of the most vital things for a human being. Mr. Sugaya Toshikazu from Ashikaga City, Tochigi, a northern prefecture of Tokyo, had been imprisoned for 17 years with a false charge of slaying a girl in May 1990, deprived of freedom. Why was an innocent man convicted as a culprit? The judicial process for a criminal charge, which tends to rely on forced confessions, should be changed fundamentally. Do Not Repeat the Same Tragedy Mr. Sugaya’s case was called the Ashikaga Incident, in which the conviction against him had recently been proven to be an error. Media sternly criticize on the nation’s judicial process for a criminal charge, accusing the police and prosecutor authorities of their interrogation practice. They rely too much on forced confessions as the best evidence from the very beginning of questioning. As a conclusion, what the news coverage says is right. But it was the very mass media that had charged Mr. Sugaya as a criminal at the wake of the incident and later spread sensational news. Mass media must look back themselves sincerely for the lack of responsibility and then provide with right information. Lessons should be made to work well in the coverage on other issues. Confessions after Torture Mr. Sugaya was sentenced life imprisonment with hard labor. His penalty was concluded by the DNA test, whose accuracy was not so credible in those days, and by his confessions. The DNA test which was far from a solid proof was used to endorse his confessions. Mr. Sugaya replied, asked about the torture, that: ‘I just wanted to be freed from the pains, to be escaped from them, disregarding whether I had committed or not’. The police client was pulled by the hair, kicked, barked at and interrogated for many hours. The police torture led him to confessing wrong facts. Since the arrest, he was treated as an offender, not as a suspect. The judicial principle was thrown away completely that everyone is regarded innocent until he/she is convicted According to the Japan’s criminal prosecutor code, allegedly, a suspect is not entitled to any right other than to renounce. In other words, the criminal suspect is not allowed to ask for attendance of a counsel or assured of the right of silence. Instead, police interrogation lasts for 23 days and nights strictly as an obligation. Confessions are drawn from this course, which are then confirmed by the judges in the trial without doubt. Videotaping Interrogation Process In what situation can a confession constitute a proof for conviction? What requirements must be cleared? A strict norm must be established to ensure free will of a suspect. Otherwise, a similar tragedy will be repeated. A full audio and video recording has been proposed for years to document the questioning as a procedure. However, the prosecutor and police offices are reluctant to change their traditional stance. They claim that a partial visualization is sufficient. Obviously, it is clear to everyone that a partial filming is a mere pretence to cope with the new lay judge system*. Assertions from the police and prosecutor authorities mean to record a scene at the last stage when a confession is made after long days of interrogation. Such a visual work is unworthy of a proof. The New Socialist Party has insisted in the organ to the readers that the new lay judge system has many defects and that its implementation should be frozen and abolished. But the trial will start on August 3 this year. Prof. Murai Toshikuni, Ryukoku Law School, warns in the article of the Mainichi Shinbun Newspaper on June 5: ‘Mr. Sugaya’s case showed that a citizen judge could be involved in the wrong judgment unless the entire judicial circle is ready to listens to the voices of the accused’. * Under the new trial system six people are selected randomly from eligible voters to sit alongside three professional judges on trials.