Japan minister calls for probe into 'unopenable' retrial system

(FILES) This photo taken on September 29, 2024 shows Iwao Hakamada (L) speaking as his 91-year-old sister Hideko (R) holds the microphone during a judgement report session held by supporters in the city of Shizuoka, Shizuoka prefecture, two days after he was acquitted, more than half a century after his murder conviction, when a Japanese court ruled that evidence had been fabricated. Iwao Hakamada, the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, finally won compensation this week from Japan after almost five decades in jail, mostly on death row, a year after being acquitted. But the 89-year-old might still be behind bars if not for Hiroaki Murayama, the judge who in 2014 dared do something extremely rare in Japan’s often intractable legal system: he ordered a retrial. (Photo by JIJI Press / AFP) / Japan OUT / JAPAN OUT

Japan’s justice minister on Friday asked a legal panel to review the country’s retrial system after the acquittal of the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner last year heightened scrutiny of a system often labelled the “Unopenable Door”.

Keisuke Suzuki tasked the panel of legal experts with scrutinising Japan’s retrial process to recommend any necessary revisions, after it courted criticism for being too snail-paced to safeguard victims of wrongful convictions.

Momentum for a policy change has grown since a court last year quashed the wrongful conviction of 89-year-old Iwao Hakamada, whose case took 42 years to be reopened.

Retrials “play a crucial role” in the justice system as they serve to correct guilty verdicts handed down in error, Suzuki said in a statement read out to the panel.

“The public interest has grown lately over the system, especially in regard to the protracted deliberation on some applications,” he said.

“But at the same time, it’s been pointed out that a significant number of retrial claims are inappropriate or illegitimate,” the minister added.

Under the current system prosecutors have the power to appeal court-issued retrial orders — a factor that, for example, allowed them to delay Hakamada’s redemption by nine years.

Suzuki said the panel should start discussions “immediately” on the process — shaped a century ago and since left nearly untouched — so that “its function as an emergency safety net will be better secured”.

Critics say progress can vary by case because of how long courts can leave retrial applications untouched and because of how diligent each judge can be.

Just one percent of around 1,150 retrial applications in Japan between 2017 and 2021 won approval — leading to its reputation as the “Unopenable Door”.

Only five retrials have been granted in Japan’s post-war history for death row prisoners, all resulting in exoneration, with Hakamada the latest to have his conviction quashed.