Kumamoto Pref. Also Ordered to Pay Damages over 1985 Murder Case

Tokyo, July 27 (Jiji Press)–Fukuoka High Court on Monday ordered the prefectural government of Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, to pay damages jointly with the Japanese government over the wrongful conviction in a 1985 murder case in Kumamoto. Presiding Judge Takeshi Okada overturned a lower court ruling that had ordered only the national government to pay damages. The judge ordered the national and prefectural governments to jointly pay a total of some 23.8 million yen in damages to the family of Koki Miyata, who died in October 2020 after being acquitted in March 2019 in a retrial of the murder case. The judge found that prosecutors had breached their duty by failing to withdraw the indictment, while also concluding that the Kumamoto prefectural police investigation was unlawful, a finding that was not recognized by the lower court ruling. The day’s ruling said the evidence used to find Miyata guilty consisted “essentially only of a confession made during an investigation.” With the acquittal in the retrial now final, the ruling stated, “It is clear that the confession lacks supporting evidence, contradicts objective evidence and is not credible.” The court examined the voluntary interrogation conducted by police officers during which Miyata first confessed. Noting that the interrogation spanned a total of nine days and lasted about 81 hours, and that it was conducted with the aim of extracting a confession based on the preconceived notion that Miyata was the perpetrator, the high court ruled that it exceeded “the limits of voluntary investigation and was unlawful.” The court also found that prosecutors could have realized during the trial that a piece of cloth Miyata had claimed he wrapped around the murder weapon before burning it still existed, contradicting his confession. It ruled that the prosecutors had breached their duty to withdraw the indictment, adding that “if the conduct had been intentional, it could even be described as criminal,” and that “even if negligent, this amounted to gross dereliction of duty.” In March 2025, Kumamoto District Court found prosecutorial misconduct and ordered the national government to pay 23.8 million yen in damages, while rejecting claims against the prefectural government over the police investigation. Miyata served a prison sentence after being convicted of the fatal stabbing of a man in what was then the Kumamoto town of Matsubase, now part of the city of Uki. Speaking after the ruling, Makoto Saito, co-head of the plaintiffs’ legal team, said the high court had “unequivocally condemned what police had described as voluntary questioning but which in reality amounted to coercive interrogation.” The Kumamoto prefectural police said they would examine the ruling before deciding how to respond. Kumamoto District Public Prosecutors Office said it would review the ruling and determine its response after consulting with relevant agencies and senior prosecutors. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]