Four survivors of Japan’s “hostage justice” filed a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on March 24, contending that the Code of Criminal Procedure provisions allowing prolonged pretrial detention and denial of bail violate the Japanese Constitution.
Under the hostage justice system, criminal suspects are denied due process and a fair trial, and may be detained for months or years on vague grounds, especially if they do not confess. The lawsuit alleges that the parts of the Code of Criminal Procedure that enable prolonged detention are unconstitutional and authorities’ reliance on those provisions has been illegal.
Two of the four plaintiffs, Asanuma and Morimoto, were eventually acquitted after being held in extended detention following their bail pleas being denied. Asanuma, arrested for indecent assault, remained in pretrial detention for three-and-half months. Morimoto, also arrested for indecent assault, remained in detention for four months. “I’ve lost precious 15 months of my life,” Asanuma said. “I had been admitted to a graduate school and was about to become a working graduate student from April 2024, but that did not come true.”
Another plaintiff, Shibata, was convicted of violating the Stimulants Control Act, and his bail requests were denied twice while in pretrial custody. And Amano, arrested in 2018 for suspected fraud, has remained in detention for over six years with outside contact prohibited.
Each of the four plaintiffs is seeking compensation of 1.1 million yen (US$7,400).
“In this country, the basic rule of a modern civilized country – the right to be treated as innocent until proven guilty in a fair trial – does not exist,” said Makoto Takano, the plaintiffs’ lead counsel. “We want to correct the distorted timeline in Japan’s criminal justice system.” The lawsuit is also supported by LEDGE, a Japanese group promoting social change through public interest litigation.
Japan is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that criminal suspects must be “promptly” charged before a court, must be considered innocent until proven guilty, and as a general rule should not be detained prior to trial.
This lawsuit marks a courageous stand by survivors seeking an end to the abusive practice of hostage justice, a first of its kind in Japan. It should become a turning point in the fight to end this violation of fundamental rights.