Reporting from Suraj's members of the attorney team

After the result of the Suraj's supreme court, the attoreny members issued the report below regarding this lawsuit.  

Reporting on the result of the lawsuit for state compensation

To whom it may concern,

With regard to the lawsuit demanding state compensation for the death of Mr. Suraj occurred during state funded deportation, we made an appeal on February 1, 2016 to the Supreme Court, as well as a request for the acceptance of the case. Unfortunately, on November 9^th, at the 2nd Small Court of the Supreme Court, we were given the decisions that the appeal had been rejected and the request for the acceptance of the appeal had not been accepted, hence as a result, it was established that the plaintiff had ultimately lost the case. There was no substantial mentioning of the reasons for the decision, only the following were stated: “In a civil law case, a Supreme Court appeal is permitted only in case of provisions provided in the Civil Suit Act Article 312 Section 1 and 2, so given the fact that the reason for appeal in this case is stated as unconstitutionality, the argument itself is actually concerned only with factual errors and mere violation of legislation, hence it clearly does not fall under the above provisions.” and “In accordance with the reason for objection in this case, the need for acceptance of this case is not recognized according to the Civil Suit Act Article 1 Section 1”.

Without showing any resistance, Mr. Suraj was surrounded and carried on the plane by several immigration officers who used legally unregulated tools such as gags, leg cuffs, and zip ties. He was strongly forced into a forward leaning position which lead to the worst outcome, namely his death. Yet, in the end, the judiciary has not recognized the state’s responsibility. Extensive restraints and pressure was applied to him that lead to his death, still the unlikely decision has been legally established that the sole reason was a disease he already had. We, the members of the attorney team are deeply outraged by this outcome of injustice. Moreover, if we think that this result has been reached approximately six and a half years after Mr. Suraj’s death, about five years after filing the suit for state compensation, we do not even know how to describe the sorrow that we feel towards Mr. Suraj and his family. While such actions led to the unthinkable outcome of one person losing his life during deportation, under the current situation, it is still difficult to say that any more considerations are given in practice of immigration control system to detainees’ and deportees’ human rights than before. Regarding the administration of immigration control, it would be extremely necessary to make considerations that human rights do not get violated and that mechanism are put in place that make it possible to constantly monitor the legality and validity of implementation by video recording of the full deportation process, especially if we think of the enormous effects that it can have on the deportee’s life, body, and freedom.

While the members of the attorney team express their appreciation to everyone who has been giving us tremendous support, we also would like to aim for the eradication of human rights abuse from immigration control administration, hopefully with continuous cooperation from you.

Members of the attorney team

message from Suraj's widow

Dear Supporters,

Thank you for your continued concern with regard to the incident of Abubakar Awudu Suraj.

On November 9^th the High Court, under judge Hiroyuki Kanno, rejected the appeal of Suraj’s mother against the overturning of the ruling of Tokyo District Court by the Tokyo High Court.

It has been more than 6 years since my husband died. The trial has made me face the reality of his death and on numerous occasions I have felt close to losing my strength to carry on.

But despite this I was able to receive courage to carry on from all of those who came to give their support by observing the court case and the sharing of your kind words. I would not have been able to have continued upon this long path without you and am deeply grateful to you all.

While my husband can not be brought back to us, in order to prevent his death from being in vain, I have taken this route in order to stop such death from happening once again. Despite your kind support we have not achieved the desired result and this is sorely disappointing.

We have fought together for justice, but at the decision of the supreme court it has been judged that a re-trial is not necessary to deal with the significant issues left behind by this case. This has left me in much pain and uncertainty.

Even though the result is bitter we have through the process identified many details of the incident, the video tape of Suraj's forced return has been screened in court and we have been able to see the 6 immigration officers, and this has been most important to me and his relatives. Due to all of your support we were able to ascertain the relation between the immigration officers’ forceful handling of my husband and his death, and the fact that we won in the district court has allowed us to make some small impression upon the Ministry of Justice and the Immigration Bureau.

In order to prevent such sacrifice of life in the future I believe that those responsible for this incident, the Ministry of Justice and the Immigration Bureau must never forget my husband’s death. This wound will never heal for the rest of my life, but I hope to continue work towards Suraj’s hope, as expressed in his words “I want to help everyone”, and in aid of this I would be grateful if you would continue to speak of this incident for long into the future.

I am truly grateful for all of your warm support over this long period. I thank you from my heart. And I hope you continue to recall Abubakar Awudu Suraj for a moment now and then.

Please take good care of yourselves.

Yours sincerely

Suraj’s Widow

The lawsuit of Mr. Suraj’s case: Appealed to the Supreme Court

We appealed to the Supreme Court against the sentence by the High Court on February 1, which was the deadline of its procedure.

In the name of Suraj’s mother, we claimed on national compensation 2,500,000 Yen, which was admitted by the first trial. We have a message from Mr. Suraj’s wife to everyone who is interested in this case.

“Dear Supporters for Suraj’s case,

As Suraj’s wife, I would like to express my deep appreciation for your help.

Thanks to all of you, we can appeal and continue the lawsuit in the name of his mother on behalf of the bereaved family

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 

Suraj’s wife”

 

The next trial will be conducted in the Supreme Court.

It would be nice if you could have an interest in this case continuously.

Thank you for your cooperation.

“It was not acceptable and understandable.”

Last time, we reported the judgment of the state compensation suit for Mr. Suraj’s in Tokyo High Court in short. This time, we want to tell you about things after the judgment.

We held a press conference at the Judicial Press Club in the Court (Take a look at a photo above), and a lot of media attended. Most of them asked Mr. Suraj’s wife about comment on the judgment, which made her at a loss for words. After the conference, we also held a briefing session in the same building. What impressed us deeply was that many supporters and spectators had been waiting for us until we appeared although over one hour had passed after the judgment (Take a look at a photo below). Mr. Kodama, a lawyer in the defense team, gave his impression of how difficult it was to fight against the country. At the last of the session, Mr. Suraj’s wife managed to comment about the judgment. “It was totally unacceptable, and I still cannot understand the meaning of it and current situation.”

Judgment was rendered at the state compensation suit for Mr. Suraj’s case in High Court

The judgment was rendered at the state compensation suit for Mr. Suraj’s in Tokyo High Court on January 18, 2016. This time, admission tickets were distributed and the public gallery was full.

The chief judge gave judgment that the original judgment should be reversed and the claim by the plaintiff at the first trial should be dismissed.

The reasons for the judgment were as follows:

At the process of Mr. Suraj’s death, he had already fainted before his body was forced to bend forward, which fact the plaintiff saw as a problem.

As for the cause of his death, there are no clear findings that imply suffocation, and on the contrary, the CTAVN had become significantly big in Mr. Suraj’s heart, which must have affected his health. As the diagnosis the six doctors (who were appointed by the defendant) gave, the cause of death was fatal arrhythmia caused by the CTAVN.

As for the illegality against the State Redress Law, the restraining acts by the officials were reasonable, and even if the stress given by the restraining acts caused the CTAVN disorders, the officials couldn’t have predicted it. Therefore, the restraining act was not illegal.

As regards the responsibility for the emergency treatment, a death by the CTAVN cannot be saved by AEDs, so even if the officials neglected the responsibility, there have been no casual relations with Mr. Suraj’s death.

As mentioned above, the rulings we have won in the District Court were all reversed, and based on the written documents by the famous doctors who were requested by the state regardless to expense (some of them didn’t even know the name of CTAVN exactly), the High Court judged that Mr. Suraj had already died before the officials restrained him for a rare disease called CTAVN, and it was impossible for the officials to predict it and it was also difficult to save his life, so they have no fault.

Protests from the public gallery were heard even after the court was dismissed, like: “We didn’t come here to hear such judgment!”, “I can’t believe such a judgment!”, “What an inhuman judgment!”

The above was just a quick report.

The conclusion of a trial for state compensation regarding Mr. Suraj’s case

After the opinion statements by Mr. Suraj’s wife, the plaintiff’s legal team claimed. First, the team argued the fact progress taken for the past 4 years and confirmation of illegality based on what really happened when incident occurred on March 22, 2010.

 

After the incident, there had been no explanations provided by the state to the survivors.

Despite of taking evidence preservation process, the state refused to disclose various evidences behind.

The video capturing the scene of the incident, which was finally disclosed, was stopped recording right after Mr. Suraj and officers entered an aircraft.

 

Many cruel facts were finally come out through questioning the immigration officers on these state attitudes of concealing the truths mentioned above at the trail for state compensation.

-Using unauthorized items such as towels or cable tie.

-Forcing him to bend as coercive pose which was unnecessary.

-The testimony by officers that Mr. Suraj resisted was a lie.

 

 After that, the team argued the casual relationship between the death of Mr. Suraj and illegal acts of immigration officers and also stated how irrational the defendant statement was; Mr. Suraj’s heart stopped, which is related to his heart tumor, at the very moment when he was forced to bend.

 Also, there had been no scientific evidence provided, rather the state argued only based on doctor’s testimonies.

 Taking these into consideration, the team stated that it is very clear that Mr. Suraj death was caused by the coercive acts by officers.

 

The trail was ended in about 40 minutes, and after that we moved to another place for report. The report included explanations about closing arguments and withdrawing of 9 immigration officers as defendant. After that, there were many questions given by the participants which we could feel their passions toward the next judgment.

 

The conclusion of a trial for state compensation regarding Mr. Suraj’s case

On Monday, February 3^rd, the trail for state compensation of Mr. Suraj’s case came to conclusion.

On that day, the seats for the observers were fully occupied and around 20 people wishing to attend even had to stay in a waiting room.

Although it was the closing arguments, there were only arguments given by the plaintiff and no arguments by the defendant made.

The trail began with the final opinion statements by wife as a plaintiff.

Some observers could not stop crying while hearing the wife's statements filled with a lot of memories with Mr. Suraj: a moment of drawing some illustrations, an episode at his favorite noodle restaurant, conversations between the two as they often took a walk to a park during the spring season.

At the beginning of the trail, the wife stated “Ever since I lost where my heart belongs to, my time has stopped.” Through her statement, we all could not help expressing a wish that a better and fair judgment would be made to help the wife move forward.

(The information about opinion statements and report by the legal team will be shared shortly.)

Dante-san, endeavoring to support for Tohoku reconstruction, was re-detained.

On January 20, 2014, Dante-san was re-detained by Tokyo immigration office.

 He turned himself in to immigration officials because he thought it was not good to stay as illegal.

 Although he filed a court after the application for special permission for residence was not accepted, the case went against him.

 The point that there is no reason to grant him a provisional release any more since he lost a case was what the immigration office claimed.

 

 Although he did not have any family in Japan, Dante-san strongly wanted to live in Japan by making use of his skills in construction experience and Japanese which he acquired through over 20 years of living in Japan.

 

 He took part in “Volunteer activities for Tohoku reconstruction support” organized by APFS in Rikuzentakata, Iwate (May, 2011) and Izu Islands (Nov, 2013) twice before.

 Dante-san had a big proportion and was such a gentle man with few words.

 He did great in Tohoku volunteer as he had a powerful strength more than anyone.

We asked him a reason of participation in Tohoku support, his answer “I would like to do my best for Japan as my second country” has still been standed out in our memory.

 

Although we visited him after his detention and gave him some information on cases of provisional release granted after the re-detention, Dante-san made his decision to go back his country. He said “I might be able to endure this situation if I had a child, but cannot endure this by myself.” But he also mumbled “I want to stay here if possible”, which we felt that we could not stand remaining there.

 

In preparation for Tokyo Olympic, the government is setting a policy to accept construction workers from overseas with a time limit.
 However, will workers work as the government is expecting?
 We feel our deep resentment and think that why Japan cannot such workers with considerable experiences in construction and Japanese skills like Dante-san before accepting new workers from overseas.

 

We all cannot help but wishing that there will be good things for him.

12th court hearing Held in Mr. Suraj’s Trial

 The 12^th court hearing of the state compensation trial was opened on October 23^rd (Wed) from 10 am. In the morning, a specialist MD was invited to testify about the heart disease (cystic tumor of the atrioventricular node; referred to as CTAVN below) claimed to be Mr. Suraj’s cause of death. From the afternoon, the examination of the doctor who identified Mr. Suraj’s cause of death, and later on that of the plaintiff, namely of Mr. Suraj’s wife were held.

 The focus this time was on the testimony by Dr. Ikeda who identified Mr. Suraj’s previously unknown cause of death as CTAVN in a second autopsy report two years later; that is, as a disease Mr. Suraj was supposed to have already been suffering from.

Dr. Ikeda claimed right from the beginning that CTAVN is 100% sure to be the cause of death. He said that to come to a conclusion of death by suffocation, one necessary premise would be to clearly exclude other possible causes of death; so since now another cause of death (CTAVN) can be found, it cannot be death by suffocation. However, when he was asked how he could conclude that merely having CTAVN = (equals) CTAVN as the cause of death while there are reported cases where people lived for some 90 years with CTAVN, he only said “that is because he is dead”; an answer that completely lacked convincing content even for us medical laymen.

Also, he even made rude statements such as “he had CTAVN so there is no need to consider other causes of death” or “the fact that he died then and there was a matter of his life expectancy”, thus inviting harsh criticism from the observer seats.

Based on such statements of Dr. Ikeda, further suspicion concerning Mr. Suraj’s cause of death was strengthened and shared by the observers.

Later, in her testimony, Mr. Suraj’s wife managed to deliver the most important messages she wanted to communicate to the chief judge, such as “(based on the content of the previous testimonies by the immigration officers) I feel that my husband was not handled as a human being” and “I hope that I am the last one who has to withstand such hardship”.

After the trial in a meeting, the legal team reported that they managed to get the statements they were expecting from these testimonies. Also, those who were present confirmed their determination to each other to carry on fighting with the closing argument in sight.

The next hearing will be the closing arguments on February 3^rd (Mon) 2014 from 3 pm in Court Room No. 705 (venue may be open to change).

Please invite people around you and come as observers to support us at the final hearing.

 (Photo: the legal team at the meeting)

The forced deportation of the 75 undocumented Filipinos completely ignored Suraj’s case

On Saturday July 6^th 2013, the Justice Ministry of Japan and the Immigration Bureau deported 75 undocumented Filipinos through a chartered flight. As you may know, Ghanaian citizen Abubakar Awudu Suraj, whom A.P.F.S. had supported to take special permission of residence, died as he was being deported from Japan on March 22^nd 2010. Since Suraj’s death, the Justice Ministry of Japan and the Immigration Bureau had suspended deportations. The Justice Ministry of Japan and the Immigration Bureau enforced the deportation under such circumstanceｓ, and we feel strong resentment toward it.

 

Immigration Department officials who had given prosecutors the files regarding Suraj’s case were exempted last July, and the Justice Ministry of Japan officially stated that their action　to Suraj was legal. However, the lawsuit against the Japanese government and the Immigration Department officials is still continuing. In this case, the video showing the officials’ brutal act was submitted, and we believe the whole truth will be uncovered. This case questions the way the Immigration Bureau enforces deportations. The forced deportation of the 75 undocumented Filipinos while the case still ongoing is an extremely irresponsible action done by the immigration Bureau, the Justice Ministry of Japan, and Japanese government, and that cannot be accepted.

 

Yesterday, we talked with Suraj’s widow about the forced deportation. She expressed her strong frustration as she feels that the deportation completely ignored her husband’s death. Suraj’s widow, a plaintiff in this case, has been distressed from the trial, but she is taking Suraj’s case to court with her strong wish that we should never let the same thing happen again. Resuming dangerous deportations has utterly ignored both her husband’s death and her wish.

The examination of Immigration Department officials who sent Suraj to death will be held in Tokyo district court room 706 from 10:00am to 5:00pm on Friday, September 13th, 2013. Please do come join us if you consider that the forced deportation of the 75 undocumented Filipinos or resuming deportations at this point is a problem. We have to win this case to improve the condition of deportations. Our government should change it before creating another victim.

 

Mr. Suraj's Trial for State Compensation: Next court date

The next court date has been set in Mr. Suraj's trial for state compensation.

It will be held on June 24^th (Mon) from 4 pm in Court Room No. 705.

This hearing will be mainly about confirming progress by discussing about the court appearance of the defendant officers and scheduled expert opinions. After the hearing, we will have an open meeting in a separate room with the attorney team. We are planning to explain about the pending issue of an inquest for prosecution too.

Also, the date for cross-examination of immigration officers has also been set. It is September 13^th (Fri), 10 am - 5 pm. Although it is a workday, we hope that many observers will come, since at last it is a questioning of the defendant officers.

Please help us and come as an observer on both dates!

The 9th court hearing was held in Mr. Suraj’s trial for state compensation.

The 9^th court hearing in Mr. Suraj’s trial for state compensation was held on May 13^th (Mon) from 3:30 pm at the Court Room No. 706 of the Tokyo Regional Court. Observer seats were full, with people not being able to sit down waiting outside.

On this date, the plaintiff side (the Mr. Suraj Attorney Team) made their claims. This time, it was a court room where we could watch and listen to video, so the attorney team used Power Point to expand their claims with regard to the circumstances of Mr. Suraj’s deportation and the illegality of the immigration officers’ actions, and to explain about in a simple manner about the cause of Mr. Surja’s death. Later, a video recording of Mr. Suraj’s deportation was played as a basis for evidence behind these claims.

The content of the video recording was just 5 minutes showing how the immigration officers took Mr. Suraj from the wagon parking near the plane to inside. However, even though Mr. Suraj was not agitated and speaking calmly in Japanese, the immigration officers swiftly cuffed his feet as if they were planning for it and carried him on board by several of them holding him. It was quite different from the claims of the immigration officers that they took these actions because he went berserk.

It was only few minutes of video recording, but the observers were watching how Mr. Suraj was deported withholding their breaths. To see the real circumstances of Mr. Suraj’s deportation on video must have come as a shock to observers, even if they have heard about it. For instance, Mr. Suraj’s cousin was also among the observers, but he had to leave because he could not stand seeing the last minutes of Mr. Suraj.

After showing the video, the presiding judge said that if we would like to have judgment this fiscal year, plans for immediate questioning and confirmation of facts should be made quickly. The defendant side, that is the state, mentioned that they would like to have 3 months for gathering medical opinions, but the chief judge made it clear that ‘we cannot wait’.

After the hearing, we took time in a separate room for Q&A concerning the content of the present claims. Many observers stayed and presented questions. There were some instances which provided opinions that may prove useful for future proceedings (the photograph shows the Q&A meeting).

The next court date is still pending, but as soon as it is set, we will upload it to this blog or the APFS website. The attendance of observers provides great power. Please come to court as an observer!

Meeting Report

Hello Everybody! I'm Thomas, a new French volunteer at APFS, coming from Manila (Philippines).

I will stay in Tokyo for the next few months, and I'm looking forward to work closely with APFS staff  and all its members, for I believe they are doing altogether an amazing and very much needed job at helping immigrants who arrive and are living in Japan, and most of all, by bringing people together.

Last Sunday, March 31, a meeting was held to present the last news about Mr. Abubakar Awudu Suraj's case. Mr. Suraj was a Ghanian citizen and a long term resident in Japan, since he first arrived in Japan in 1988. He died during his deportation from Japan to Ghana on March 22, 2010, a procedure first engaged due to Mr. Suraj overstay on his visa. His family and friends, with the help of APFS, filed a complaint for excessive pressure exerced by the immigration officers in charge of Mr. Suraj's deportation that day.

Even though I don't speak Japanese well enough (especially when it comes to legal language) to understand all the ins and outs in about the case, Mr. Suraj's lawyer was able to review the case, give the informations about the last court hearing held on February 25, 2013, and present the arguments for future developments. After that, we've heard Mr. Suraj's wife tell her story with her husband. We've witnessed the sorrow caused by his death, but also the courage she shows by keeping on fighting to see one day the truth come out, and keep the memory of her husband alive.

Mr. Suraj's friends had also prepared a statement, full of dignity, and a concluding word by Mr. Katsuo Yoshinari, APFS Advisor, was a strong and determined call to intensify the mobilization for Mr. Suraj and his closed ones' sakes.

As a French citizen, such cases are unfortunately not unknown in France, especially those last years, with a strenghtening of the immigration policy, a strong increase of the number of deportations, and the multiplication of cases involving problems related to the deported rights and/or health. It is an unfortunate fact, but it is reassuring to see that people fight, either that is in France or here in Japan. Hoping for the best.

Report Meeting on Mr. Suraj’s Case

We held a report meeting about Mr. Suraj’s case on March 31^st 2013 at the Living & Industry Plaza in Ikebukuro.

We invited Counselor Kentaro Iida from the attorney team, who spoke about the legal developments in the case, especially the suit for state compensation in a clear and easy to understand manner.

The late Mr. Suraj’s wife and friends told us about their memories with him. The widow said that she felt the three years that have passed since the incident were in a sense short and at the same time long and painful.

There were around 50 participants. It was an opportunity to reconfirm our will with them to broaden the circle of support, so that we can let many more people know about the incident.

At APFS, we continue our activities to unravel the truth. Please let us have your support!

3 years after Mr. Suraj’s death…

Exactly 3 years ago from today, Mr. Suraj died during deportation.

The video recording of the deportation shows that Mr. Suraj was calm but very firm on that day to tell the immigration officers that he wanted to stay in Japan together with his wife. He was not agitated at all (a section of this video will be shown on May 13^th (Mon), the next court date in the trial for state compensation). Why did Mr. Suraj have to die for merely wanting to stay in Japan; we, as the support organization, would like to unravel the truth together with his wife by all means in the future. Please support us! * As we posted before, a Report Meeting on Mr. Suraj’s Case will be held on March 31^st (Sun). Please come!

The photo was taken in the Tokyo Mosque located in Yoyogi Uehara. It was sent by Mr. Suraj’s wife today together with a massage. She wishes that we remember him even for a moment in our busy day. She probably remembered Mr. Suraj at the mosque. We hope that the memories are not too harsh for her…

Conference on Mr. Suraj’s Case Held by the Minister of Justice

Today in the morning, Minister of Justice Taki held a report conference about investigation results on Mr. Suraj’s case.
Since former Minister of Justice Chiba previously decided to conduct an investigation about this case, the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice engaged in further investigation, and this time the results were reported, including the content of the decision for non-prosecution made in this year’s July.
The content of this report was identical to the Chiba Prosecutor Office’s reasons for the non-prosecution decision, that is throughout the incident restraining actions, usage of restrain equipment and first aid measures by immigration employees were all legal, and there is no causal relationship between actions taken by immigration and Mr. Suraj’s death.
What is irritating is that Minister Taki is reported to have said that Mr. Suraj’s family had been informed about these investigation results, while in fact they did not know at all about the investigation, its results and today’s conference. We have first heard about the conference when our organization was contacted by the press today after it had taken place. Later, several press companies contacted Mr. Suraj’s wife asking for comments, but she was confused by the situation first hearing about the content of the conference from the press.
These measures to investigate and report only on the government’s terms and to later say that they have fulfilled they responsibility to be accountable are nothing but insincere. I think that this situation in which the family is left behind clearly shows this country’s current level of human right awareness.

7th Hearing Held in Mr. Suraj’s Trial for State Compensation

November 19th (Mon) was the 7th court date in Mr. Suraj’s case.
This time, the plaintiff side made a proceeding report describing that a request was made for enclosure to crime victims which actually took place on October 12th, and that another request has been submitted to the prosecutor office for viewing of the video taken during the deportation process.
It was agreed upon that the plaintiff side lets the defendant side to have a look at the acquired information, and the defendant side will make an official statement by next time.
This time, the observer seats were not full. It is feared that as the trial is prolonged, this way the case may gather less interest. The next court hearing is on next year’s February 25th (Mon) from 4PM in Court Room No. 705. We hope that you will support us as an observer and may even invite other people around you who are interested.

We are still collecting signatures for Mr. Suraj !

  The final day for collecting signatures was today but after discussing with the lawyers we decided to extend it a little bit (to the middle of November probably).

 We have 955 signs right now but we are looking for more than 1000. Thanks for your cooperation !

 You can download the petition sheet on APFS website: http://apfs.jp/ Please send it by Fax or by post mail.

Mini Concert for the support of Mr. Suraj

 
 On the 27th of October, a concert was organized to raise money for Mr. Suraj in Kiss Café, in Nishi-Ogikubo. Theo, a French man who is volunteering at APFS, played the guitar along with a Japanese woman singing standards from Europe and America, along with popular Japanese songs. Half of the music charge for the support of Mr. Suraj.


Below is the report by Theo.

Support Concert for Mr. Suraj at Kiss Cafe, Nishi-ogikubo  on the 27th of October.

 On the 27th of October, APFS, Mr. Suraj's wife, friends and supporters gathered for a support concert event at the Kiss Cafe, in Nishi-Ogikubo, Tokyo.
Half of the entrance fee of 1,000 Yens was to be given to Mr. Suraj's wife to help her with the various expenses going along with her fight for the unveiling of the truth in the accident that led to her husband's death and for the prosecution of the Immigration Officers that were part of the deportation.

Reimi and I played music for about two hours, and the cafe, decorated by the numerous paintings of Abubakar Suraj, was completely full, showing once again the solid support behind this fight.

Several dozens of signatures were gathered for the forced prosecution of the officers, which is always a great help.

Thanks to all of you who participated, we hope to do it again in the near future.

 

Explanation of the contents of the 6th hearing of the trial for Mr. Suraj by the Attorneys

 
 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.

********
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.