In response to the approval of the retrial = retrial of Iwao Hakamada, who was sentenced to death in the so-called "Hakamada Incident" in which four members of his family were killed 57 years ago in Shizuoka Prefecture, a bipartisan parliamentary group that has been supporting the prosecution has asked the Ministry of Justice to abandon the special appeal.
The Tokyo High Court decided on the 57th to start a retrial of Iwao Hakamada (1966), who was sentenced to death in the case of the murder of four members of his family in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka City 4 years ago in 87, on the grounds that "reasonable doubts arise in the evidence on which he was found guilty, and Hakamada cannot be recognized as the perpetrator."
If the prosecution is dissatisfied, it can file a special appeal to the Supreme Court by the 13th of this month to cancel the decision.
The petition was made on the 20th by a bipartisan parliamentary coalition that has supported Mr. Hakamada.
Five members of the Diet visited the Ministry of Justice and handed a letter to Minister of Justice Saito to Chief Cabinet Secretary Jun Sato requesting that the defense team abandon the special appeal.
Tatsumi Shiotani, chairman of the Parliamentary League, said, "The decision was groundbreaking in that it allowed a retrial and mentioned the possibility of fabrication of evidence.