Photo/Illutration Lawyer Hideyo Ogawa, who represents Iwao Hakamata, criticizes the reviews of the initial murder investigation at a news conference in Shizuoka's Aoi Ward on Dec. 26. (Miho Tanaka)

SHIZUOKA—The defense team of former death row inmate Iwao Hakamata blasted the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office and Shizuoka prefectural police for continuing to deny that evidence was falsified against him.

Hideyo Ogawa, a lawyer and secretary-general of Hakamata’s defense team, said on Dec. 26 that the reviews by the top prosecutors office and the Shizuoka police into the initial investigation were “inadequate and disappointing.”

Hakamata, 88, was convicted of robbery and murder in connection with the deaths of an executive of a miso factory and three of his family members in 1966. Hakamata had worked at the factory located in what was then Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture.

After spending decades on death row, Hakamata was acquitted in a retrial at the Shizuoka District Court in September. The court agreed with the defense’s argument that key evidence, namely five articles of bloodstained clothing found in a miso tank at the factory, were most likely fabricated.

Both reviews of the investigation process pointed out improprieties and flaws, including a coerced confession.

However, the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office again denied any evidence was falsified.

“The court clearly recognized the fabrication based on detailed discussions and solid evidence,” Ogawa said at a news conference in Shizuoka. “Why and how the fabrication was done and who was involved should be verified.”

Ogawa also criticized the limited scope of verification and fact-checking by the authorities in the reviews.

“The fundamental problem is that they only took out the parts that became a problem in the trial,” he said.

Prefectural police began interviewing former investigators in late October.

Ogawa said they should have spent more than two months on the review.

“A third party should examine the state of investigation at that time again, not only the investigative authorities,” he said.

He also indicated Hakamata’s defense team would review the reports.

Shizuoka prefectural police interviewed six people involved in investigating the 1966 killings and compiled a report covering nine A4-size pages.

Prefectural police acknowledged that after Hakamata was arrested, he was interrogated on average for 12 hours a day over 19 days.

The report said interrogators tried to get him to confess to the crimes by implying that they would extend his detention period.

Although the report said the interviews with the former investigators did not yield any flat-out denials of evidence fabrication, it concluded there were no concrete facts or testimony to prove the evidence was faked.

Those interviewed were all young in the 1960s, so they did not hold key positions in the investigation, such as being in charge of evidence management.

“Despite the seriousness of the case, we have to say that the investigation was inadequate,” the prefectural police report said, adding that the investigators didn’t search the miso tank soon after the murders occurred, and the five items of clothing were found about one year and two months after the crime.

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