Man wrongly convicted of rape seeks Y100 mil in damages from authorities

Friday 15th May, 06:49 AM JST

TOYAMA —

A man who was cleared of charges of rape and attempted rape in a retrial in 2007 on Thursday sought about 100 million yen in damages under the 1947 state redress law, his lawyers said. Hiroshi Yanagihara, 41, filed the suit with the Toyama District Court, naming as defendants the central and Toyama prefectural governments, as well as prosecutors and police officers in charge.

The lawyers said their client was arrested and indicted through unlawful investigations and they plan to expose the actual investigation and questioning of Yanagihara through this civil suit.

They said they have asked the Toyama District Public Prosecutors Office to preserve all the evidence produced between 2002, when Yanagihara was convicted, and 2007, when he was acquitted in the retrial.

According to the document filed with the court, the Toyama prefectural police arrested Yanagihara, then a taxi driver, grilled him for a long period of time, and forced him to make false confessions in 2002.

Investigators covered up objective evidence in Yanagihara’s favor, such as results of DNA analyses and phone records that established an alibi for him.

The prosecution indicted Yanagihara after determining him to be the culprit on the basis of police investigations, the document says.

Both the police and prosecutors said they will respond sincerely to the lawsuit, but declined further comment.

Yanagihara was detained for 1,005 days between his arrest in April 2002 and his release on parole in January 2005 after being sentenced to three years in prison at the Takaoka branch of the Toyama District Court.

His retrial was held in October 2007 at prosecutors’ request after another man who was arrested in a separate case in 2006 confessed to the crimes initially attributed to Yanagihara. The real culprit was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting 14 teenage girls.

In March 2008, the Takaoka branch made a decision on a redress payment to Yanagihara, acting on his demand for about 12.5 million yen in compensation for the two years he spent in prison. But at that time, the court did not reveal the amount.

The 12.5 million yen represented the maximum amount of compensation payable under the 1950 criminal compensation law that sets compensation levels at between 1,000 yen and 12,500 yen per day of detention for defendants who are later acquitted in criminal trials.

Japanese prosecutors and police began partially recording and filming the questioning of criminal suspects on a trial basis after Yanagihara’s acquittal in the retrial and a separate 2007 decision that cleared 12 people of vote-buying charges in Kagoshima Prefecture.

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Latest 15 of 24 Total Comments Show All

timeon at 09:24 AM JST - 15th May

he shouldn't press about the money only. If indeed police covered up evidence and force confessions THEY should be prosecuted and thrown in jail
GW at 09:47 AM JST - 15th May

you definitely dont want the law looking at you in any way shape or form here, you can be documented as being on the other side of the world & still get convicted here.

There are more forced confessions in Jpn then all those hollywood rambo/war type flicks combined, there are probably many thousands perhaps more wrongfully convicted here & many convicted criminals get suspended sentences.

Watch yrselves & if in doubt flee the country if you can its yr only chance!
jackfish at 09:50 AM JST - 15th May

The 1950 law that limits the compensation to about $100 a day for wrongful conviction, was poorly constructed. I hope this guy's case sets a precedent and he gets at least what he's asking for.
Weasel at 10:02 AM JST - 15th May

Guilty or not, the J Cops always get their man.

I was thinking that they always get any man
kwatt at 11:28 AM JST - 15th May

Yanagihara deserves to get 100 million yen. More or less police still try to arrest someone innocent if they can't find real suspects. In the past some prisoners were acquitted in retrials much much years later as they pleaded rerial strongly. I think mostly prisoners did not/could not it even if they appealed innocence.
studebaker at 11:36 AM JST - 15th May

If the cops involved don't go to jail or at the very least lose their jobs, someone should have street justice on their asses.
airrunwesker at 11:38 AM JST - 15th May

...just spreading rumors is enought to ruin a guys life.

He should do three things...

1, gets lots of money... of course!

2, track down the one who did rape the girl(s).

3, Become a J-cop... with his experience, he would make a good one and would not make the same mistakes.
mindovermatter at 12:55 PM JST - 15th May

DNA analyses and phone records that established an alibi for him.

WTF are these clowns thinking...? Phone records...? WTF...? If his DNA wasn't a likely match... That's it... He didn't do it...

Japan's Finest... Hard at work again...
dennis0bauer at 03:18 PM JST - 15th May

That shows again the "effectiveness" of the Japanese police
sakurasuki at 06:10 PM JST - 15th May

His retrial was held in October 2007 at prosecutors’ request after another man who was arrested in a separate case in 2006 confessed to the crimes initially attributed to Yanagihara. The real culprit was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting 14 teenage girls.

What will happen if the real culprit never get caught?? I guess he will spend time in jail as if he is the real criminal, too bad for him.
tjfrancis at 07:35 PM JST - 15th May

at the prosecutor's request? two reasons for that, either it wasn't the same prosecutor as in the first case or he was truly unaware of the "subjective evidence" in favor of the accused.

hopefully it's the latter. if this prosecutor is as decent as I think he is, he'll open a whole new different case with the investigators and police as the defendants.
BBLeo at 09:32 PM JST - 15th May

He is the only one that is aware of truth, or is he just lucky. Good money for good spending. But will he be now a good citizen or will he do anything wrong? Investigating cops and prosecutors involved in this case should be thrown to jail for few years, and perform hard work to pay back to state all the money.
smithinjapan at 09:55 PM JST - 15th May

10 million is a pretty fair amount for what the guy suffered, but I suspect he'll get an offer for a settlement of less than a tenth, and he would be wise to take it. He'll never win in a trial against both the parties he's suing, and the most he'll get is a pittance and an admittance of wrong doing, with a big, juicy, "But..." from the judge and a bunch of crap about how it's not really the authorities' fault, etc.

Poor guy, really. Regardless of the outcome of this, and I hope it's in his favour, he'll never get back all he's lost.
sharky1 at 09:57 PM JST - 15th May

From what I have seen over the years, I think it would be better to resist arrest than it would be to go quietly.
grafton at 05:48 AM JST - 16th May

There is something more here that will need to be or should be looked at. How many of the 14 girls that were raped after Yanagihara was arrested & sentenced? Because they too might well have a claim against the Prosecutors Office & the Police.

As for how the police should be dealt with they should go to prison for kidnap, assault & false imprisonment the same way anybody else would. The really horrible part of all this is that while the police are happy that they have put a man in prison for a crime (he didn’t commit) the real criminal goes on committing more crimes because nobody is now looking for him.