Late Ohkawara Executive's Family Sues State for Damages

Tokyo, April 6 (Jiji Press)--The bereaved family of a former adviser to Japanese machinery maker Ohkawara Kakohki Co., who died of cancer while facing wrongful charges of illegal exports, filed a damages lawsuit against the state Monday over his detention.

Three family members of Shizuo Aishima, who died in 2021 at age 72, demanded a total of about 168 million yen in the suit filed with Tokyo District Court.

In March 2020, Aishima and two other executives of the company based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, were arrested for allegedly violating the foreign exchange law and were later indicted.

Aishima was found to have stomach cancer seven months later and was hospitalized. But he died in February 2021 with the charges still pending.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that it was illegal for judges to issue warrants for Aishima's arrest and detention even though there was no possibility of him fleeing or destroying evidence, and to reject bail requests.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]