Information on the Association of Mr. Yamano's friends

About the Yamano Case

Seijiro Yamano's incident took place in March 1982.

At the time, he was the owner of a construction and real estate company. He got into an argument with a Mr. "I," the owner of another company in the same business, because Mr. "I" had been hiding profits from a joint housing development project the two were carrying out. Mr. "I" got angry and hit Yamano, who responded instinctively using violence in defense. As a result, Mr. "I" died.

At that time, Yamano should have gone to the police and admitted what had happened, but he panicked at the fear of becoming a murderer, and of losing his company and life. He decided to try to cover up the incident. In his troubled state, he decided to involve another man, Mr. "T," who was an employee at "I"'s company.

While the two were talking, Mr. "T" mistakenly came to the conclusion that Yamano had come to kill him, and attacked him with a baseball bat. Yamano managed to wrestle the bat away from him, and tried to protect himself, but Mr. "T" picked up another stick and attacked him again. Yamano swung the bat in an attempt to knock the stick out of his hands, but by bad luck it hit Mr. "T" in the head, killing him.

The Osaka Prefectural Police arbitrarily decided that this incident, which had actually taken place accidentally, was one involving premeditated burglary/murder. They made up a story that, "Yamano killed 'I' in order to rob checks from him, and killed 'T' to silence him."

During his interrogation, Yamano suffered physical and psychological torture, and was coerced into making a "confession" that was basically dictated by the police. As a result, a "confession" report was made that contradicted the real facts.

In 1996, Yamano's death sentence was confirmed.

In his initial trial, the judges handed down a death sentence on the sole weight of the report of his false "confession." His appeal was turned down, and the Supreme Court also rejected the final appeal. He was given the death penalty for armed robbery and murder. However, Yamano neither made any plans to murder people, nor did he commit robbery nor have the intention to kill. He never saw the checks that he supposedly stole, and he did not purchase the bat which was called the murder weapon. Evidence was presented to prove these facts, but the court ignored this.

In October 2001, Yamano filed for a new trial in Osaka District Court.

Yamano is deeply regretful of the fact that he took the lives of two people, and prays that their souls can rest in peace.

He says, "I am not seeking a new trial because I want to hang on to life. I took two lives and so it may be unavoidable that I get the death penalty. However, I cannot accept being sentenced to death for the crime of armed robbery and murder, which I did not commit. I want to get a just ruling."

Our Association has been carrying out a variety of activities in order to present new evidence, get a retrial started, and win a just verdict. We need cooperation and support from many people for this. We would be most grateful for any help that you can give us.

It is said that in Japan, to get a retrial is more difficult than "passing a camel through the eye of a needle." Only four such retrials have been granted since the end of World War II. At the present, Yamano has only a single lawyer, but it takes at least five lawyers to carry out the petition for a retrial and to prepare for it.

The Association receives 2,000 yen as an annual membership fee from each member, but this money is almost entirely used up for the production and mailing costs of the newsletter. We will require large amounts of money to hire lawyers. We will be very grateful for any contributions.

We thank you in advance for any support and cooperation you can extend to us.

Cordially,

Contact information for The Association to Mr. Yamano's Friends

Secretariat
2-7-3-502 Tsurumi, Tsurumi-ku, Osaka
Postal code 538-0053
c/o Yoshitomi
Fax:+81-6-6913-2989

Kyushu Bloc
2-2-1 Hongouchi-cho, Nagasaki-shi
Postal code 850-0012
Phone: +81-95-824-2080
Fax: +81-95-823-5340
Attn: Father Masao Mizuura

Tokyo Bloc
Phone: +81-90-3203-0397

Postal Transfer Account No.
01190-9-87164
Subscriber's name: Yamano-san-wo-sasaeru-kai

Website (in Japonais): http://www.dpdworks.com/js/yamano/