Photo/Illutration The father of a 43-year-old man who died in police custody criticizes police for the way they treated him at a news conference in Aichi Prefecture on Dec. 17, while displaying his son’s key chain. (Noboru Inoue)

The father of a diabetic who died in police custody in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, while being held in restraints is demanding answers following revelations his son was beaten by officers and given no medication for his condition.

“The only thing I am asking is for police to reveal the whole truth of my son’s death,” the father, 71, told a news conference in Aichi Prefecture on Dec. 17.

He gave the news conference after he met with four senior members of the prefectural police at a police office to discuss his 43-year-old son’s death on Dec. 4.

The officials included the individual responsible for police detention services management in the central Japan prefecture.

The father said the officials told him that the prefectural police had begun a sweeping investigation into the treatment of his son at the Okazaki Police Station.

But he said the officials did not divulge details despite his repeated questions.

He also called on the prefectural police to release security camera footage that captured the violence.

His son was taken into custody at the Okazaki Police Station following his arrest Nov. 25 on suspicion of obstructing a police officer carrying out public duties.

He was found unconscious in his cell on Dec. 4 and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death was kidney failure. He also displayed signs of dehydration while being taken to hospital.

The camera footage showed the man was kicked by multiple officers, including high-ranking ones, and was deprived of medication for his diabetes. He was held in a handcuff belt restraint for a total of more than 140 hours.

Among questions the father posed to police officials was whether it was true his son had been held in restraints for so long, why police did not allow him to see a doctor and the reason for withholding the security camera footage.

Prefectural police officers seized hard disks that contained recordings of the circumstances of the man’s detention during a Dec. 16 search of the Okazaki Police Station on suspicion officers there intentionally caused the man physical and emotional pain.

The team in charge of the probe also confiscated data on the police station’s detention service management.

It has pledged to get to the bottom of the case by scrutinizing 40 or so items of evidence that were seized as well as questioning the officers there.

The father added that the senior officials did not offer a clear-cut apology for his son’s death at the meeting. 



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