IMADR | The International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism

Justice for Kazuo Ishikawa, Sayama Case

May 27, 2025

A rally calling for a retrial of the Sayama Case was held in Tokyo on May 23, the day Kazuo Ishikawa, then 24 years old, was falsely convicted of the murder of a high school girl in 1963.

This Case underscores fundamental flaws in the Japanese criminal justice system and the discriminatory stereotyping against Buraku people.

At the rally, many people, including his wife, defence team, lawyers, supporters and other victims of false accusations, gathered to call for the realisation of retrial and revision of retrial law as well as to express their condolences for Kazuo Ishikawa, who passed away on the 11th March 2025.

With his death, the third appeal for retrial became invalid, and Sachiko, his wife, appealed to Tokyo High Court for 4th retrial as appellant. She pointed out the prosecutors’ continued refusal to disclose evidence and flaws of the retrial law, which trampled on Ishikawa’s struggle for justice. “I want to remove the ‘invisible handcuffs’ that are still on Kazuo”, she said.

（Photo: A burner with messages for Kazuo Ishikawa)

After the rally, participants marched around Tokyo High Court and Tokyo Public Prosecutors’ Office, appealing for the start of the immediate retrial of Sayama Case and his innocence.

 

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