Photo/Illutration The eldest son of Shizuo Aishima, who died in February 2021, speaks with reporters on March 21. (Hiraku Higa)

The Tokyo District Court rejected a damages claim over the death of a company executive diagnosed with cancer while he was being held in detention on charges that were later dropped.

Bereaved family members of Shizuo Aishima, an adviser at Yokohama-based Ohkawara Kakohki Co., said he was not given proper medical care.

Aishima and two other company executives were indicted in March 2020 for violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law. But the charges were dropped in July 2021.

Aishima was diagnosed with stomach cancer in October 2020 and his family and lawyers pleaded with the courts to allow him to seek proper medical treatment. But the requests were repeatedly denied and by the time Aishima was allowed to enter a hospital it was too late. He died in February 2021 at age 72.

The three bereaved family members were seeking a total of 10 million yen ($66,000) in compensation, but the Tokyo District Court said doctors at Tokyo Detention House acted appropriately and rejected the request.

“The ruling was the worst outcome that we could have imagined,” Aishima’s eldest son said at a news conference after the ruling. “The court did not adequately understand the suffering my father endured in detention. We will have to report at his grave about the unfortunate result, but we will continue our efforts to wipe away the chagrin he must have felt.”

The plaintiffs pointed out that a blood test in July 2020 showed that Aishima had anemia. The following month Aishima complained of stomach pain, but nothing was done about it. The family contended that his stomach cancer would have been detected sooner if he had received proper treatment earlier.

But the March 21 court ruling said there were no other unusual results from the blood test and the decision to continue observing Aishima’s health had “medical rationality.”

The court also said it was common for those in prison or detention to complain of stomach pain due to the stress they faced while incarcerated. It said Aishima was given medicine for the pain and the decision to continue observations was normal medical procedure.

In a separate lawsuit challenging the legality of the criminal investigation of the three company executives, the Tokyo District Court last December found the arrest by the Metropolitan Police Department and indictment by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office to be illegal and ordered payment of compensation totaling about 160 million yen.

Both sides appealed that ruling.

(This article was written by Kazufumi Kaneko and Hiraku Higa.)

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