Last time, other than the evidence that the judges obtained from the Chiba district public prosecutors office, we too were asking the prosecutors office for disclosure of documents concerning the case.
When we tried to obtain a copy of the documents, the prosecutors stated that "the documents are the same as those we submitted to the court". In response, we pointed out that a directive from the Ministry of Justice states that family of victims of crime should be shown a wider range of documents. The prosecutors realized their mistake and stated they will reconsider whether they will disclose the documents or not. The prosecutors then covered parts of the document that have to do with one's privacy and finally the documents did not make it on time for the hearing. We should be able to acquire the documents during next week. We will then consider what evidence we will turn in to the court and what we will claim. Yesterday's trial was not very productive but maybe because there were many observers in the court, the presiding judge was very polite and comprehensive towards us, to a point that we were surprised. At the last trial, a written expert opinion that stated that Mr. Suraj's death was caused by illness was submitted to the court, but we were relieved by the Judge's comment: "the court read it too, but it doesn't seem to take into account what the Immigration bureau officers did". The judges did not seem to see the written expert opinion as that important.
I expect that the next trial will be more meaningful than yesterday's trial.
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The next hearing will be held on Monday, 19th of November, at 4:00PM in the court room 705. Please come and join us as an observer to the court, it is very important.
