(Update)Top Prosecutors Office Finds Investigation of Hakamata Insufficient

   Tokyo, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)--Prosecutors failed to properly investigate Iwao Hakamata, 88, who was acquitted this year in his retrial for the murder of four people in 1966, Japan's Supreme Public Prosecutors Office said in a report Thursday.
   "We are very sorry that Mr. Hakamata and his older sister, Hideko, spent days so painful they can't be expressed in words," Deputy Prosecutor-General Hiroshi Yamamoto said at a press conference on the day.
   The report points out that police interrogations were conducted without Hakamata's willingness as some were carried out in the middle of the night and others were prolonged and threatening. It notes that prosecutors should have secured such willingness by taking sufficient measures in their own interrogations.
   The report states that it cannot be said that prosecutors listened seriously to Hakamata's statements as they treated him as if he were a criminal and pressured him to confess. It urges prosecutors to sincerely examine suspects' statements.
   It also points to their inadequate handling of investigation documents and evidence as they were initially unaware of the existence of a negative film of the five items of clothing that led to Hakamata's acquittal, as well as audio recordings of his interrogation.

(2024/12/26-21:06)

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