Although Takao Sugiyama and Shoji Sakurai were involved in minor thefts and fights more than 40 years ago, they paid a much higher price than expected — 29 years in prison for a 1967 robbery-murder in a small town in Ibaraki Prefecture they claim they had nothing to do with.
Since being released on parole in November 1996 the two, both 64, actively campaigned for a not-guilty verdict in a retrial, arguing their one-time confessions were coerced by investigators.
Boosted by a series of recent acquittals in high-profile cases, including one in which a man who had served 17 years of a life sentence was cleared in March 2010 for the 1990 murder of a girl known — a case known as the "Ashikaga Incident" — the pair are now much in demand to speak at gatherings and symposiums nationwide seeking judicial reform.