The mother of a 16-year-old girl who died from emaciation following detention and alleged menacing interrogations by authorities is seeking compensation, in the latest case of what is known as “hostage justice.”
The lawsuit, filed with the Kobe District Court in Kobe Wednesday, argues that the girl’s 18-day ordeal at a jail traumatized her so much that five months after her release, she weighed just 20 kilograms — and died in December.
“My daughter was unrecognizable when she died,” the mother of Runa — a pseudonym used in the complaint — told a news conference Wednesday.
“I want to know what happened to her, and why she was arrested, detained and had to die,” the plaintiff said.
The Kobe District Public Prosecutor’s Office has declined to comment, saying it had not yet received a complaint.
In Japan’s harsh criminal justice system, critics say innocence is not always presumed and that authorities rely heavily on confessions.
Campaigners say suspects’ decisions to remain silent or deny charges often lead to lengthy, grueling pretrial detention, with confessions used as a de-facto condition for release — hence the term “hostage justice.”
In June last year, Runa — then a worker at a care facility for people with disabilities in Hyogo Prefecture — was arrested for allegedly assaulting one of them during a Valentine’s Day party.
Runa maintained her innocence, with the complaint saying she was merely trying to stop the patient from biting another by gently pressing her hand against their chin.
It took authorities 18 days to decide to drop charges against her altogether.
During her detention, she was denied access to her family, could only contact her lawyers and was repeatedly pressured to confess.
Runa is “one of the most tragic victims of hostage justice,” the complaint read, seeking ¥100 million (around $623,000) in redress.
During interrogations by police, she was threatened with the prospect of a reformatory and told she would not be able to see her mother if she does not confess, Masahiro Sasaki, a lawyer representing Runa’s mother, said Thursday.
“You did it, didn’t you? Just tell the truth,” Sasaki quoted an investigator as telling Runa, citing a journal the girl kept while detained.
Runa as a result was diagnosed with acute stress, and eating and post-traumatic stress disorders, the complaint said.
Sasaki questioned the validity of her arrest given the “extremely trifling” nature of her alleged assault, and her age that should have rendered detention justifiable “only when it’s absolutely necessary.”
There was also no probable cause to suspect the girl with no previous history of delinquency who lived under parenting supervision would flee or destroy evidence, he said.
Yet, prosecutors at least twice requested…
