HOKKAIDO –
A 77-year-old hunter from Sunagawa, Hokkaido, who gained a Supreme Court ruling overturning the revocation of his firearms license, filed a damages lawsuit towards the nationwide authorities and Hokkaido on August 17 after discovering that certainly one of 4 seized searching rifles had been destroyed years earlier with out being returned to him.
“I thought something unbelievable had happened. No one imagined they would have disposed of it, and it never even crossed my mind,” mentioned Haruo Ikegami, who’s searching for compensation over what he says was the illegal revocation of his firearms allow and the disposal of the seized weapon.
Ikegami shot and killed a bear in August 2018 on the request of Sunagawa metropolis authorities.
His firearms possession allow was subsequently revoked on the grounds that there had been a threat the bullet might attain a constructing, and 4 searching rifles in his possession had been seized.
Ikegami challenged Hokkaido’s motion in courtroom, arguing that the revocation was unlawful.
In March 2026, the Supreme Court dominated that the motion was illegal, handing Ikegami a victory.
“The ruling reached a conclusion that allows people to rely on hunters with peace of mind. I thought it was a very good judgment,” Ikegami mentioned.
An additional drawback emerged about two weeks later, when the 4 seized firearms had been attributable to be returned.
“This is not the gun in question. I want them to return that gun quickly,” Ikegami mentioned after studying that the rifle he had used in the course of the bear cull was lacking.
The Sapporo District Public Prosecutors Office had disposed of the rifle in July 2019, earlier than the lawsuit searching for cancellation of the executive motion had begun.
According to Ikegami’s lawyer, Noriaki Nakamura, prosecutors mentioned Ikegami had submitted a doc relinquishing possession of the weapon and that it was destroyed after the investigation ended.
“The prosecutors’ explanation was that Ikegami submitted a document abandoning ownership, and that the gun was disposed of after the investigation was completed. I feel extremely angry about this,” Nakamura mentioned.
The Sapporo District Public Prosecutors Office mentioned Ikegami had signed a doc in the course of the investigation relinquishing possession of the searching rifle and that it was disposed of correctly beneath formal procedures.
At a news convention on August 17, Ikegami expressed anger over the prosecutors’ dealing with of the weapon.
“If I had understood that relinquishing the property meant the hunting rifle would disappear, I would never have signed it,” he mentioned.
The destroyed rifle had been given to Ikegami by a fellow hunter and was stored as a memento, in line with Ikegami.
Ikegami is searching for a mixed whole of about 430,000 yen in damages from Hokkaido and the nationwide authorities.
“If the authorities were going to take a gun away from Ikegami after he had received permission to possess it, shouldn’t they have done so through the proper administrative procedures?” Nakamura mentioned.
The Sapporo District Public Prosecutors Office mentioned it will chorus from commenting as a result of it had not but acquired the criticism.
Source: 北海道ニュースUHB