Sadamichi Hirasawa (平沢 貞通 Hirasawa Sadamichi, February 18, 1892 – May 10, 1987) was a Japanese tempera painter.[1] He was convicted of mass poisoning and sentenced to death, though he is suspected to have been falsely charged and no justice minister signed his death warrant.[2][3]
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On January 26, 1948 a man calling himself an epidemiologist arrived in a branch of the Teikoku Bank (aka Teigin) at Shiinamachi, suburb of Toshima, Tokyo, before closing time. He explained that he was a public health official sent by US occupation authorities who had orders to inoculate the staff against a sudden outbreak of dysentery. He gave all sixteen people present a pill and a few drops of liquid. Those present drank the liquid he gave, which was a cyanide solution. When all were incapacitated, the robber took all the money he could find, which amounted to 160,000 yen. Ten of the victims died at the scene (one was a child of an employee) and two others died while hospitalized.
Hirasawa was caught by the police due to the Japanese habit of exchanging business cards with personal details. The poisoner also created two other incidents. The poisoner used a card which was marked "Jiro Yamaguchi" in one of the two incidents, but it was later found that Yamaguchi did not exist. The poisoner also used a card which was marked "Shigeru Matsui" in another of the two incidents. Matsui told the police that he had exchanged cards with 593 people, including Hirasawa. The police were led to Hirasawa through finding the money of unknown origin. He was identified as the poisoner by several witnesses.
He was arrested on August 21, 1948. He was also found to be in possession of sizable amount of cash, whose origin Hirasawa refused to divulge. After police interrogation which allegedly involved torture, Hirasawa confessed, but he recanted soon after. His later defense against confession was based on partial insanity, alleging that he had been troubled with Korsakoff's syndrome and so his story was not reliable. The court, however, disagreed and Hirasawa was given the death penalty in 1950. Until 1949, a confession had been a solid evidence under the law, even if the police tortured a person to extract a confession. The Supreme Court of Japan upheld the death sentence in 1955. His attorneys tried to have the sentence revoked, submitting 18 pleas for retrial over the following years.
He was sentenced to death, but there was originally no conclusive evidence. In addition, although 40 employees saw the crimes, there were only two people who identified him as the criminal.[4] Seichō Matsumoto presumed that the true culprit was Unit 731 in his books; A story of the Teikoku Bank Incident in 1959 and The Black Fog of Japan in 1960. Matsumoto also suspected that "the money of unknown origin" came from selling pornographic drawings. Kei Kumai protested Hirasawa's innocence by his film The Long Death in 1964.[5]
Successive Ministers of Justice in Japan did not sign his death warrant, so the death sentence was never carried out. Even Isaji Tanaka, who on 13 October 1967 announced in front of the press that he had signed death warrant of 23 prisoners in one go, did not sign Hirasawa's death warrant, stating that he doubted Hirasawa's guilt.
The poison was regarded as potassium cyanide in Hirasawa's trial.[6] However, Keio University's investigation claimed that the true poison may have been acetone cyanohydrin which Hirasawa could not have obtained.[7] It is regarded as one of the reasons to doubt his guilt because the victims' symptoms were clearly different from potassium cyanide poisoning.[8]
Hirasawa remained in prison as a condemned criminal for the 32 years.[9] He spent his time painting and writing his autobiography My Will: the Teikoku Bank Case (遺書 帝銀事件).
In 1981, Makoto Endo became the leader of Hirasawa's lawyers. Besides the case, he took part in controversial trials such as Norio Nagayama.[10] The defense claimed that statute of limitations for his death penalty ran out in 1985. The death penalty has 30-year statute of limitations under the Criminal Code of Japan,[9] and so Endo appealed for his release. However, the Japanese court refused this argument pointing out that the statute only applies in the case if a death row inmate escapes from prison and evades capture for 30 years.[11] Japanese courts judge that the punishment begins when the minister signs the death warrant.[9] His health deteriorated in 1987. On April 30, 1987, Amnesty International petitioned the Japanese government to release him. He died of pneumonia in a prison hospital on May 10, 1987.
Even after Hirasawa's death, his stepson Takehiko Hirasawa has tried to clear his name. They submitted a 19th plea for retrial. His brain damage was also proved.[12] As of 2008[update], his lawyers have submitted new evidence to attempt to prove Hirasawa's innocence.
Based on the Hirasawa case is a 2009 novel, entitled Occupied City, by English author David Peace, who was long resident in Japan.