Unidentified email sender claims to be 'real culprit' in PC death threat case

So where's Detective Conan when you need him?

4 people were arrested mistakenly? Great investigation. Thank goodness none admitted during questioning.

Thank goodness none admitted during questioning.

All 4 falsely accused did confess to sending the messages when questioned and pressured with evidence that the messages were sent from their computers, even though they were innocent. That is what was so outrageous about this case.

@Cricky

Thank goodness none admitted during questioning.

But apparently they DID "extract confessions" (as is very often the case in Japan).

The case has proved embarrassing for the National Police Agency (NPA) after it emerged that officers had extracted “confessions” from four people who had nothing to do with the threats.

An email was sent to media organizations and lawyers on Friday, in which the unidentified sender claimed to the be “the real culprit” behind a series of email death threats in 2012 that were sent by hacking into other people’s computers.

And if I was pulling a caper like this I'd have a "deadman's switch" email set up. If I didn't log into a certain account once a month then it would automatically send the email claiming responsibility.

I'm not saying the cops have got the right guy, and I sure hope they have a LOT more evidence than some blurry CCTV footage, but I'm also saying that this email isn't proof of anything either.

Thank you everyone, I was wrong. Some or all admitted being the culprit and admitted guilt. The Inquisition did not have such a success rate. But from the story none were guilty? Mmmmm some questions best not asked I think?

Hang them all, god knows his own

"The case has proved embarrassing for the National Police Agency (NPA) after it emerged that officers had extracted “confessions” from four people who had nothing to do with the threats."

Now if Abe and company wish to change the constitution I suggest it be changed for a guarantee of due process of the law and changing time to be held without charges from 23 days to 72 hours like other supposed democracies around the globe.

I will also suggest Abe and his band of merry fools suggest prosecutors go back over every case concerning the death penalty and review "evidence" as to whether it was circumstantial or actual hard evidence. Laziness of the Japanese legal system from the top down is rotting away any idea of justice from actual justice in Japan.

Katayama told a news conference Friday that he did not send the email and maintained his innocence in the case.

This is a prime example of how Japan's justice system works, beat confessions out of people no matter who... 4 people confessed to a crime they did not commit and now this guy the same claims he is not part of it.

Great investigation, charge 4 find 5 and still no clue, but looking for clues is not really the point.

The problem with the justice system in Japan is that it is rotten from almost every angle. Many people point to the 99.6% conviction rate as evidence of this but it is only half the story. The reason it is so high is that prosecutors only tend to pursue cases where there has been a confession, meaning that those who deny their crimes have a fairly high chance of not being prosecuted. The rumor is that public prosecutors may only have 3 acquittals during the span of their careers.

The result of this is that if a prosecution is brought in a case where the defendant pleads not guilty, the judge must automatically assumes that the case against him is strong, otherwise why would the Japanese prosecutors have taken such a risky career move?

The Japanese legal system is basically aping western legal systems but it is fundamentally unfit for purpose. The problem seems to lie in how judges are appointed in Japan. In the UK or Europe, they are basically nominated from groups of well regarded and experienced lawyers or distinguished law professors. In other words, nobody can decide to be a judge when they grow up. In Japan on the other hand, during the legal training course that all bar exam graduates must attend, the candidates are observed by the Ministry of Justice and the ones with the 'right temperament' (ie those most conservative and servile) are taken aside and offered positions as prosecutors and trainee assistant judges. A pimply faced recent bar exam graduate with no practical life or legal experience can be selected and trained up to sit in judgement of others. There is a really great book about this written by a former judge, Hiroshi Segi who has quit and become a professor instead. The book is only in Japanese but here is a link to a translated talk he gave at the FCCJ:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NQd7dD7DJrQ

Extracted confessions? More like tortured confessions from them.

What do the NPA hire Yakuza hit men for the position of Extraction Information Officer ?

Sounds like a movie could be made about this.... a cat with a digital memory card in its collar?!

Maybe the cat sent the message. They can be vindictive if they get hungry.