Osaka Prefectural Police revealed this week that they mistakenly arrested a man over a revenge porn case and detained him for 42 days.
The man, who is in his 20s, was later released with an apology from the prefectural police, Kyodo News reported. Police said they now believe someone pretended to be the man on social media, threatening to post sexually explicit photos of the man’s former girlfriend online unless she paid him money.
The woman, who is in her 20s, consulted with police in late March after receiving revenge porn threats from an anonymous source and learning that indecent photos of her had been posted on Instagram.
The images were sent from several accounts. Police said they suspected the woman’s former boyfriend because some of the accounts used his surname, and arrested him on April 12 for attempted extortion. However, they did not check the sender's IP addresses.
The man vehemently denied the allegation while in custody and said he he did not possess any indecent photos of the woman.
He was held until May 2 when he was re-arrested on suspicion of violating the anti-revenge porn law. However, he was released without indictment on May 23, after a follow-up investigation found that none of the social media accounts which posted the images belonged to him and that the woman's face had been superimposed onto images of other women.
Police officially apologized to him on Monday.
© Japan Today
41 Comments
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Shirokuma4812
Official apology?? LOL. They held him for 42 days. He probably lost his job?
wallace
He should be compensated for his ordeal.
Rodney
in Japan, the whole family is shamed and lose their jobs.
smithinjapan
"Police officially apologized to him on Monday."
Awwww... a heart-warming end to the story. They officially apologized, so he will now get his job back, now get his reputation back, all the worries about him having gone missing without a word will suddenly be relieved, and he'll be rewarded all monetary loses over the 42 days PLUS a little bonus for his trouble, no doubt.
The police, on the other hand, will still maintain they have a 99% conviction rate, they never ever force confessions, they act only in just manners, they don't need cameras in interrogation rooms, etc. Well done, Keystones! Of course, someone will retire, and younger police will be forced to do menial tasks for a while. But, again, a heart-warming end to the story.
sakurasuki
They just don't care where hard evidence can lead them, all they need is potential suspect.
Then force him to falsely confess, which common practice in Japan.
Using multiple arrest so they can get better chance for false confession, same method over again.
sakurasuki
In Japan bowing can settle million or even billion ordeal, case closed.
rainyday
It seems like the police here really need a better system for investigating online crimes like this. I'm not an expert but they had a very simple means of determining that this guy was innocent at their hands the whole time and nobody bothered to actually check. Presumably this was because they were all too busy using the old school way of keeping an innocent guy locked up for 42 straight days while they yelled at him to try to make him confess.
The incompetence is quite shocking.
Redemption
This is exactly the reason you need a right to counsel from the start.
Moonraker
That's 6 weeks of his life he won't get back. Did anyone know where he was for all this time? I wonder if he is now at liberty to reveal interrogation techniques to force his confession.
Do the hustle
So, what sort of compensation is this guy going to be awarded after spending 40 days in a cell?
Bob Fosse
When the minister in charge of cyber security admits he never uses a computer and doesn’t know what a usb is, I really can’t say I am surprised the police investigating cyber crime didn’t check the ip address.
daikaka
His family is likely extremely well off to allow him to get out.
In most cases the police will eventually get a confession, as police can hold people for life if needed without conviction by keep filing charges, and can easily subject people to 16 hour interrogation sessions each day and prevent them from sleeping via lights or turning off air conditioner/heating.
As confessions is the only thing is needed for conviction, and evidence is not necessary with a confession, significant amount of population in Japanese prisons is likely innocent.
kurisupisu
An apology is not enough from these bungling cops
Where is the rule of law that PM Kishida is always harping on about?
I don’t see it…
Paul
See, this is what I was talking about! Police nor the prosecutors can't be trusted!!!!
tora
This is disturbing beyond belief. Yet another WTF moment.....
obladi
Maybe the thing for the police to do is consider the remote possibility that he's not the only person swept up in such a nightmare?
smithinjapan
rainyday: "The incompetence is quite shocking."
You being serious? Sounds like you just arrived.
SwissToni
42 days, which means the prosecutors office have looked at the police evidence and followed by a judge too. Beyond that they must have rearrested him on further suspicions, with this evidence also going up the chain of command. Awkward.
dmhondz
42 days and an apology?? And you wonder why the conviction rate in Japan is around 99%.
JRO
I'm actually surprised they even apologized, I think it's more common they just shrug it under the mat and charge the person, even when fully knowing they made a mistake. You don't get a 99% conviction rate without arresting a lot of innocent people.
justasking
See here, they released him because he PROVED INNOCENCE.
The correct and just way is to release him until he is PROVEN GUILTY.
This is something Japan Injustice System apologists will never understand.
Redemption
I imagine that this happens a lot and often goes the other way with someone just admitting guilt to end the 40 days of detainment. I am not sure I would last more than a day depending on the charge.
桜川雪
Pretrial Detention is a travesty to justice. Unless he was caught in the act or a psychiatrist can prove he is a danger to society, that person should not be held in Detention until after a conviction in court. 0 days. Not 12 hours, 48 hours, a week, and not over a month. 0 days. Further, names of victims AND suspects should remain sealed until after a conviction to prevent shame, loss of job, blacklisting, etc.
Yes, I hold higher standards than even many democracies.
This man should get a lifetime income provided by the govt as he will have trouble getting another job (probably even harder in the US as this is a sx crime and they have registries), but still. At least ¥500 million ($5 million USD). Incentive for the govt to hold the police's feet to the fire for accountability.
桜川雪
To further clarify, if the person is deemed to be a danger to society, he should be housed by his attorney (as he will be treated better since he's paying) or "house arrest" with someone to get his groceries and anything else (no more than 2 weeks).
桜川雪
Unfortunately, it is the law. Please see my comment above on what I think. Terrible.
kaimycahl
WTF!!! Officially apologized! This appears to be a case of the police doing "REVENGE ARREST" poor police investigating. I hope the poor guys image didn't get ruined and yes he should be compensated for the false arrest and accusations.
dan
Terrible police here.
Jonathan Prin
Police officers should be instantly fired for being so hopeless.
Faces of the woman on photos Lol.
A kid's trick I was doing some 35 years ago...
deanzaZZR
This is both comical and tragic. This guy is truly an innocent victim. We all understand how fruitless a lawsuit against any part of the Japanese government will be.
Brian Wheway
42 days in a cell, this would take an computer expert 10 minutes to check, when they realise its not him, "thank you very much for your time sir, your free to go" this is a waste of his time, the police time and tax payer money.
Strangerland
They may have checked the IP address at the start - this is the kind of info that can get mixed up between the language barrier, and the lack of technical understanding by some people in the chain of info.
Checking the IP address wouldn't necessarily immediately disprove him immediately, as it's quite easy use an untraceable VPN that would show the VPN address, masking his own. An IP address can show someone probably did do something when they are not masking their IP and do something online that is then associated with that IP address, but IP addresses will not necessarily prove someone did NOT do something, as they could have masked their IP. If the actual perp however did not mask their IP address, then that IP address would show a specific location, and if the suspect can show an alibi proving they were not at that location at that time, then the IP would prove they didn't do it. But this takes investigation. It shouldn't take 42 days of it though.
GBR48
quote: the woman's face had been superimposed onto images of other women.
So they didn't even look at the evidence in front of them. They just tossed the guy in prison for SIX WEEKS waiting for him to confess. That doesn't qualify as a criminal justice system. Everyone involved should be fired.
Strangerland
I'm curious how you think it would be done in 10 minutes.
deanzaZZR
Digital forensics of the photograph. It's not rocket science.
Strangerland
Digital forensics take much longer than 10 minutes.
4Tno
Please give us an update when the civil rights lawsuit takes place. But I doubt that sueing the police for monetary damages in Japan with get you any type of compensation.
Kniknaknokkaer
This highlights how shoddy Japans hostage justice system is. How on earth was an arrest warrant issued without simple and basic police investigation??? The poor guy should be compensated for sure and it makes you wonder just how many other innocent peoples lives have been ruined like this.
Kniknaknokkaer
The article states..
There's plenty of free software out there that can detect manipulated photos, even using that for a start would've helped and given them a good idea to follow up on in more detail. It seems all the police actually did initially was see his name attached to the image and arrest him.
opheliajadefeldt
My dog, if he was in the good ol' US of A, he would have lawyers 10 deep on his doorstep with their tongues hanging out. If it was it was in that country this would be a minimum of a $20million lawsuit. I am not sure what Japanese law is, or even if one can even sue the police for wrongful arrest, but I doubt any court would award any sort of big pay out.
sir_bentley28
He could've been out within a few hours if the police had done some ACTUAL POLICE WORK! Like :
checking to see where the posts came from
checking his phone and computer
check his locations of the phone reception pings based on where the posts were uploaded from
ask for an alibi and follow up on it to see if he is telling the truth!I pray that none of us end up in police custody under some false arrest because whatever we (non-Japanese) say to prove our innocence, it falls on deaf, clogged ears.
I hope he SUPER LAWYERS up and get them stacks from the police and the ex girlfriend for defamation, false arrest, stress, loss of wages, wrongful termination and just simple existence!