<figure id="attachment_201391" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-201391" style="width: 342px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="79536ff8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/08/ab561f35ca1f37c1b2596ab2a872d358.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-201391" class="wp-caption-text">Nomura accompanied investigators during a raid on the Kudo-kai, photographed in April 2010 (Image: Kyodo News)</figcaption></figure>
<p> It has been about a year and a half since the first trial verdict. Finally, a date has been set for the appeal hearing.</p>
<p> The Fukuoka High Court has set September 13 as the date for the first hearing of an appeal against the death sentences of Satoru Nomura, 76, the president of the designated dangerous gang Kudo-kai, and Fumio Taue, 66, the number two and chairman of the Kudo-kai, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a former fishing union head and others and the violation of the Organized Crime Punishment Law (attempted systematic murder). The Fukuoka High Court has decided to hold the first trial for the appeal on September 13. Both defendants had pleaded not guilty and appealed.</p>
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<p> FRIDAY Digital&#8221; reported on August 25, 2009, the shivering courtroom where both defendants frightened the presiding judge. Let us look back at the details of the trial and the background of the prolonged trial (some parts of the article have been corrected).</p>
<h2> (The article has been partially revised.) &#8220;You&#8217;re awful, you know. &#8230;&#8230;</h2>
<p> Fukuoka District Court, Legal Case No. 101.</p>
<p> The top gang leader, who had been calmly listening to the presiding judge&#8217;s remarks, changed completely when the main sentence was delivered. He stood up from the long chair near the witness stand and threatened the presiding judge, saying, &#8220;I was asking for a fair trial.</p>
<p><strong> I was asking for a fair trial. I don&#8217;t know if there is such a thing as a fair trial. You will regret this for the rest of your life!</strong></p>
<p> The number two defendant, who was also being tried, said immediately after leaving the courtroom.</p>
<p><strong> You&#8217;re terrible, you &#8230;&#8230;. Mr. Adachi!&#8221;</strong></p>
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<p> On August 24, 2009, the Fukuoka District Court (Tsutomu Adachi presiding) handed down a serious verdict. Nomura, the head of the Kudo-kai, was sentenced to death as requested. The defendant Tague was sentenced to life imprisonment.</p>
<p><strong> The Fukuoka Prefectural Police launched Operation Summit in September 2002 to arrest Nomura and other Kudo-kai leaders en masse. A 3,800-strong team of investigators arrested Nomura and others.</strong></p>
<p><strong> The trial will begin in October 2007. The Fukuoka District Court excluded the case from the jury trial on the grounds that there was a risk of harm to the elected officials. Nomura spent nearly seven years in detention, but he had expressed confidence in his innocence. There was no clear evidence to support his involvement as the perpetrator of the crime,&#8221; said a reporter from a national newspaper.</strong></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Prying will get you in trouble."></div>
<p>Kudo-kai is headquartered in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Its existence is special. It is known and feared locally as a &#8220;violent organization. A resident of Kitakyushu City tells us, &#8220;There have been incidents of injury related to the Kudo-kai.</p>
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<p><strong> I once asked a victim of a Kudo-kai-related injury what happened. He patted me on the shoulder and said, &#8216;It&#8217;s for your own good. He tapped me on the shoulder and said, &#8216;It&#8217;s for your own good. It&#8217;s better for you not to know anything. Your parents and siblings are in your hometown. If you pry into them too much, you&#8217;ll get into trouble.</strong></p>
<p><strong> If a problem arose, he would sometimes touch ordinary people. It was a long time ago that a bar in Kitakyushu City put a sign on the front door that said, &#8216;No gangs allowed. After a while, the bar was in such a shambles that it had been destroyed by firearms. It is said that the Kudo-kai warehouse stored weapons that would surprise even the Self-Defense Forces, such as anti-tank rocket launchers. It seems that they will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, no matter what the means.</strong></p>
<p> As Nomura expressed confidence, there was no clear evidence of the involvement of the top Kudo-kai leaders in the four incidents that the police considered problematic. However, the unity of the Kudo-kai is so strong that the top Kudo-kai members greet Nomura every morning, sitting on their haunches. Chief Judge Adachi ruled that it was &#8220;unthinkable that a gang member could have brought the case alone without the permission of the two defendants,&#8221; and thus he made a heavy ruling.</p>
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<p> There are special circumstances behind the protracted trial.</p>
<p><strong> The defendant was confident of his innocence due to the lack of clear evidence. The defense team is said to have explained to him that he could win an acquittal.</strong></p>
<p><strong> However, when the case was opened, the defendant was sentenced to death. Nomura&#8217;s expectations were disappointed, and in July 2010, just before the deadline for filing a notice of appeal, he dismissed all 10 members of his defense team.</strong><strong> Thanks to this, the schedule was once and for all cancelled. Nomura contacted a talented lawyer who had handled many major cases. He has formed a new defense team and is expected to plead not guilty at the appeal trial as well.</strong></p>
<p> The tense trial will begin again in September.</p>


 Kyodo News

 The trial in which the head of the Kudo-kai was sentenced to death was held. The defendant said, "I'll regret it! he said, threatening the presiding judge and pleading not guilty. Finally, about a year and a half after the verdict, a date was set for the appeal hearing. It is a horrifying situation that the trial is unusually prolonged.

You&#8217;ll regret it for the rest of your life! and intimidating the presiding judge&#8230; The background of the &#8220;Kudo-kai&#8221; president&#8217;s &#8220;unusually prolonged trial&#8221; and the shudder.

You’ll regret it for the rest of your life! and intimidating the presiding judge… The background of the “Kudo-kai” president’s “unusually prolonged trial” and the shudder.

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