The Gushikami restraintmurder case (具志頭制縛致死事件)
The Gushikami restraint/murder case was a lynch murder case that occurred in Gushikami magiri (currently Yaese town), Shimajiri gun, Okinawa Prefecture on May 18, 1907.
Case Summary
On May 18 1907, theft occurred in the village of Gushichan Magiri.
To find the perpetrator, the villagers began interrogations according to the local village laws. They used a method of interrogation that was based in superstition and that was entirely unscientific; they would place a string on the ground and one by one people would walk on the string, drink liquor, walk back across the string, and whoever was stoned during the process was declared guilty.
A man was accused as a criminal through this haphazard method of interrogation. He was tied to a tree, and lynched by the crowd, but didn't know where the stolen money was. He died under brutal torture.
After his murder the villagers indifferently reported to the Okinawa Prefecture Police that "after investigations based on Naiho (internal methods) the guilty party died." Needless to say, the police didn't condone the killing, and arrested all the villagers who took part in it on charges of murder.
After the trial, the mastermind was sentenced to 12 years in prison and the other three suspects were sentenced to 9 years in prison.