The 2010 amendments to the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Law abolished the statute of limitations for serious crimes such as murder. However, ``attempt'' is not covered, and the 2002 attempted robbery and murder case in Nagoya City remained unresolved for 15 years, and the statute of limitations has expired. "Wouldn't it be better if I died?" The man, who was left with severe disabilities, and his family are still working to abolish the statute of limitations.
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◇For life in a wheelchair
The incident occurred on November 18, 2002, in the parking lot of a pachinko parlor in Nagoya's Naka Ward. Two men opened fire on two security guards from a security company who came to collect money, stole four bags containing approximately 8.7 million yen in sales from the store, and fled the scene.
Yoshitaka Yasuda (61) from Aichi Prefecture was shot in the neck and legs, and stabbed in the side. Although he survived, he is now in a wheelchair due to quadriplegia due to a spinal cord injury, and his wife Izumi (57) has to help him bathe and defecate. In addition to being hospitalized due to a skin disease that caused him to stop sweating, he also experienced severe pain in his hands and suddenly found it difficult to breathe. ``My health is getting worse every year,'' he says.
◇Incorrect explanation
Aichi Prefectural Police investigated the incident, but the perpetrator was not identified, and the statute of limitations expired in November 2017. However, when the law was revised in 2010, the detective in charge explained that ``the statute of limitations would be abolished in Yasuda's case as well.''
In 2016, I received a call saying, ``I would like to return the evidence because there is one year left until the statute of limitations expires.'' When I learned for the first time that I was not eligible, I was shocked.
Although the prefectural police acknowledged their initial erroneous explanation and apologized, their response was ``the statute of limitations has expired because the victim was not killed.There is nothing that can be done.'' Mr. Yasuda was angry and said, ``Wouldn't it have been better if I had died?''
◇"Escape and don't forgive"
During the Diet deliberations at the time of the law revision, a supplementary resolution was passed calling on the government to ``further consider the nature of punishment, including the statute of limitations, for crimes other than crimes that result in death.'' However, even after 16 years, there has been no concrete study on expanding the scope of the statute of limitations.
Unable to accept the current system, which draws the line between life and death, Izumi has started a movement calling for the statute of limitations to be abolished in cases such as attempted murder cases that result in severe disability. A petition has been submitted to the Diet since 2017. Despite being treated as ``not yet finished,'' he says with emphasis, ``I can't give up. Although my voice may be small, I want to make it known to the country.''
In the 2009 hit-and-run incident in Kumagaya City, Saitama Prefecture, in which an elementary school student died, the prefectural assembly, which received a complaint from the bereaved family, adopted a written opinion in 2022 calling on the national government to abolish the statute of limitations for fatal hit-and-run cases.
Izumi, who learned of this move, asked the Aichi Prefectural Assembly to adopt a written opinion. Although the proposal was initially rejected, it was adopted unanimously last year after being reported in local newspapers.
In collaboration with the Sora no Kai, which is made up of the families of murder victims, in March of this year they decided to petition the government to abolish the statute of limitations for attempted murder and fatal hit-and-run. Izumi says, ``My ideal is a society that doesn't allow people to escape.I want fewer people like us to have to worry about the statute of limitations.''
