Japanese officials apologise at grave of wrongfully detained man denied timely cancer treatment

Japanese police and prosecutors this week took the unusual step of offering an apology, flowers and deep bows at the grave of a wrongfully accused man who died of cancer without proper treatment because of prolonged detention.

They were apologising to Shizuo Aishima, one of three executives at a machinery maker, Ohkawara Kakohki, based in Yokohama, near Tokyo, who were wrongfully arrested and charged in 2020 with the unauthorised export of sensitive industrial equipment.

Aishima, who was in charge of design and development, was diagnosed with stomach cancer while he was detained. His lawyer filed bail requests eight times in hopes of getting Aishima proper medical care, but all were denied.

Aishima was finally sent to an outside hospital but it was too late for treatment. He died in February 2021 at 72, five months before prosecutors dropped the charges against him and two other company executives.

“We deeply apologise for our illegal investigation and arrest,” said Tetsuo Kamata, deputy superintendent general of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

Hiroshi Ichikawa, deputy chief prosecutor at the Tokyo District Prosecutors’ Office, also prayed at Aishima’s grave. He acknowledged that their unjust rejection of his bail requests deprived him of opportunities for medical treatment. “We are so sorry.”

The charges against Aishima and two others, company president Masaaki Okawa and a former director, Junji Shimada, stemmed from their export of spray dryers, a machine that can turn liquids into powder. Police alleged it was capable of producing biological agents.

The company officials consistently denied that their equipment was subject to export restrictions. Prosecutors eventually dropped their case in July 2021, saying there were doubts if there was any illegality involved.

In September 2021, the company filed a damages suit against the Tokyo metropolitan government and the central government.

The Tokyo High Court in June found that the arrests and indictment of the three executives were illegal, ordering the Tokyo government and the state to pay them damages totalling 166 million yen (USD 1.12 million).

The decision came a year after the acquittal of Japan’s longest serving death-row inmate, Iwao Hakamada, who was wrongfully convicted in a 1966 quadruple murder.

“I accept your apology, but I can never forgive you,” Aishima’s wife told the officials at the grave.

She told them that Aishima told her that he didn’t understand why he faced such unjust treatment.