Shiratori Incident

On January 21, 1952, Inspector Shiratori Kazuo, head of the security division of the Sapporo Police Headquarters, was shot to death. The investigating authorities concluded that the crime was committed by people associated with the Japanese Communist Party, and arrested Murakami Kuniji, chairman of the party's Sapporo Committee, and others. However, the alleged perpetrators and many others remain missing, and the only links between the crime and Murakami are the statements of the so-called "converted group" and two bullets that were dug up at Horomino Pass, where they had conducted target practice. The verdict was finalized by the Supreme Court in October 1988 (20 years in prison), but Murakami maintained his innocence throughout, and even after the verdict was finalized, he continued to request a retrial and to appeal the dismissal of his request. During this time, the case attracted social attention, and a mass trial movement was underway, including over 1.1 million signatures, local resolutions in 79 cities and towns, and the Swan March. Meanwhile, the evidentiary value of the bullet, the only physical evidence, was undermined, to the point that the court was forced to mention the possibility of a crime of power.

In 1975, the Supreme Court dismissed the special appeal, but at the same time made a groundbreaking decision that, in regards to retrials, "the ironclad rule of criminal trials that in cases of doubt the benefit of the defendant should be considered to apply," and this became a precedent that opened the way for requests for retrial, which had previously been referred to as a "closed door."

[Shoji Arakawa]

"Japan's Dark Fog" by Seicho Matsumoto (Bunshun Bunko) " "Ueda Seikichi's "State Violence and People's Rights" (1973, Shinnihon Shuppansha)" "Tanaka Jiro et al.'s "Postwar Political Trial History Volume 2" (1980, Daiichi Hoki Shuppan)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1952年（昭和27）1月21日、札幌市警本部警備課長白鳥一雄(かずお)警部が射殺された事件。捜査当局は日本共産党関係者の犯行と断定、同党札幌委員会委員長村上国治(くにじ)らを逮捕した。しかし実行行為者とされる人物ほか多くは行方不明のままであり、事件と村上を結ぶのは、いわゆる転向組の供述と、射撃訓練を行ったという幌見(ほろみ)峠で掘り出した弾丸2発だけであった。判決は63年10月最高裁判決で確定（懲役20年）したが、村上は終始無実を主張し、確定後も再審請求・請求棄却に対する異議申立てを続けた。この間、事件は社会的関心をよび、110万人余の署名、79市町村の地方決議、白鳥大行進など大衆的裁判運動が進められる一方、唯一の物証たる弾丸の証拠価値が崩され、裁判所も権力犯罪が存在する可能性に言及せざるをえないほどであった。

　1975年最高裁は特別抗告を棄却したが、その際、再審についても「疑わしいときは被告人の利益に、という刑事裁判の鉄則が適用されるものと解すべきである」との画期的判断を下し、「開かずの門」といわれてきた再審請求の道を開く判例となった。

［荒川章二］

『松本清張著『日本の黒い霧』（文春文庫）』▽『上田誠吉著『国家の暴力と人民の権利』（1973・新日本出版社）』▽『田中二郎他著『戦後政治裁判史録　第2巻』（1980・第一法規出版）』

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