Suraj’s incident: Petition action for a forced prosecution

As everybody knows, we work hard at APFS to pressure for the forced prosecution of the 10 Immigration Officers who participated to the deportation attempt of M. Suraj (a decision of non-prosecution was released on the 3^rd of July this year). This is why we are planning to present the signatures to the petition to the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution.

Yesterday, we hold a petition action in front of Takadanobaba station. Suraj’s wife, friends, and supporters, around 10 people in total gathered to ask for signatures. Despite the extreme heat, many people kindly stopped to hear about M. Suraj, and we were able to gather about 100 signatures in an hour and a half.

To the persons wanting to support the action, you can directly download the petition from the internet (Japanese and English versions available): http://apfs.jp/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/120820-suraj-petition-English.pdf Thank you for your support.

Photographs illustrating Mr. Suraj’s deportation

Among the documents that were made open by the Ministry of Justice after the team of attorneys engaged in Mr. Suraj’s case made an appeal for the preservation of evidence, there was a set of photographs taken by the Immigration Bureau to reconstruct the circumstances of the case.

The person in the white shirt acts as Mr. Suraj. The reenactment took place in the office space of the Deportation Department at the Tokyo Immigration Bureau.

 

↑ Illustrating how they boarded the plane while he was carried by immigration employees in a position facing down

 

↑ Illustrating how his mouth was covered with a towel when he was seated and how his body was held down by several officers

 

It is clear that he was forced into a stressful position. It is the first time that we look at the deportation scene this way, but we can see that he was treated in a very violent manner. Imagining Mr. Suraj’s death under such treatment, one cannot help but feel enraged.

 

 

The Trial of Mr. Suraj continues !

After the release of the non-prosecution decision by the Chiba’s Public Prosecutor Office, many people seem to think that the trial for Mr. Suraj is over.

Even if in the criminal case a decision of non-prosecution has been released (there is still the possibility of forcing the prosecution through the Inquest for Prosecution Committee), the civil case (the trial claiming for compensation from the State) still continues. The next hearing will take place on the 1^st of October from 3:30PM in the court room 705. Even only to protest against this unfair decision of non-prosecution, we would like you to gather at the audience. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Protest Action against the decision of Non-prosecution in the case of M. Suraj

On the 3^rd of this month, we put on this blog that the 10 immigration officers who participated in the forced deportation of Mr. Suraj were not going to be prosecuted.

We made a one day action to protest against this unfair decision of non-prosecution.

From 11:30AM, the fifth hearing in the trial claiming for compensation from the State occurred in the court room 705, and the room was again full with people supporting the case. Since the decision of non-prosecution of the criminal case has been issued in between the last hearing and today’s one, the recordings that were up until now in the hand of the Chiba’ district Public Prosecutor Office’s hands were released and are going to be inspected from now on.

From 12:00, we moved to the Lawyers Association building, where the Attorneys explained the decision of non-prosecution (that the death of Mr. Suraj was caused by a heart tumor). Then, as the perspective from now on, they plan to review in details the expert’s report, and eventually to get a point of view from the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution.

From 3:00PM, we moved to the Chiba’s Prosecutor Office to make a protest action. We handed out the Protest Letter we put on this blog before, but the person in charge of the case was said to be absent, so Mr. Suraj’s widow transmitted the sheet directly. We cannot help but to feel that the decision of non-prosecution with “no suspicion”, which is a fairly rare decision, reflects that the Chiba’s district Prosecutor Office is just protecting its peers. We believe it is necessary to firmly oppose resistance to this unfair judgment.

To everybody who participated in the action despite the extreme heat, thank you very much. Thank you also to everybody who went to assist to the hearing! The next hearing will take place on Monday, the 1^st of October, from 3PM in the court room 705. Everyone’s continued presence has a great influence on the judge, thank you very much for your cooperation.

Urgent protest statement concerning the non-prosecution decision

For the 10 Immigration officers who were under the threat of being prosecuted for the death of M. Suraj, a non-prosecution decision has been released. We, APFS and Suraj’s wife protest against this decision in the text below.

We also distributed this text in a press conference of the justice related matters journalists club. You can see the press conference in the picture below.

 

Urgent protest statement concerning the non-prosecution decision

2 years have passed since the incident, and we felt a deep indignation when we learned about the decision of non-prosecution.

About the cause of Suraj’s death, a re-examination of his heart revealed he had a tumor, so an irregular pulse was decided to be the main cause. Without asking the family at all about the conservation of the heart, to believe all of a sudden that, after 2 years that the heart has been stored, a tumor is the cause of the death is really difficult. We do have doubts about whether the heart is really Suraj’s one and whether the examination is really sure.

It was said that the oppressive acts of the Immigration Officers on M. Suraj are within justified acts, but they stopped the video, and without any kind of recording, what kind of justified acts were they doing, we have to judge only through the one-sided claim from the Immigration Bureau. During the deportations to come from now on, can they use any kind of coercive means and be judged as correct acts? We are appalled by this possibility.

Concerning the current trial claiming for State Compensation, the State being the defendant has released on the 20^th of June its preparatory papers. The content resembles a lot the claim for non-prosecution released by the prosecutor, and the fact that the timing matches too let us think that the State and the prosecutor are colluded.

Therefore, about the decision of non-prosecution, we protest strongly against what we think is collusion between the State and the Prosecutor, stomping over People’s rights.

4^th of July 2012

Suraj’s wife

Supporting organization APFS

Report on the venue of students from Ocha No Mizu Women’s University

16 students from Ocha No Mizu Women’s university and their professor, M. Keichi Kumagai visited APFS office on the morning of the 9^th of June.

The time was short but after Ms. G speech, there was a few questions. The students showed a good critical sense, and raised very pertinent problems.

Their venue was very fertile and we hope everybody enjoyed this rare occasion of discussing the problems related to the situation of the foreign residents in Japan.

After a brief presentation of APFS itself, the representative M. Kato explained through the help of statistics and distributions by nationality and type of visas of entry the global situation of the persons residing in Japan without a proper visa. Where does the immigration phenomenon from developing countries to Japan come from? What is the position of the State itself? What are, in a few words, the immigration policies in Japan? Those were some of the matters that M. Kato presented. Finally, he talked about the way that APFS had a leading role in the creation of the Special Permit of Residence.

Then, Ms. Garcia from the Philippines, coming as a guest speaker, took the time to explain concretely her present situation. She is currently left without a visa, and has lots of troubles. Her speech was very emotional, and probably everybody was moved by her story. If you lose your visa, there is the possibility of facing a forced deportation, which would mean that her 17 years old son would have to live by himself.

Everybody felt sympathy and compassion towards Ms. Garcia, and got a concrete glance at the kind of trouble that the foreign residents in Japan can face.

It is very important that many people feel concerned by the activities of our association.

We hope to be able to set up such occasions again.

About the informational meeting on the trial for state compensation for M. Suraj of the 21st of May

  During the Informational meeting that took place after the fourth hearing of the trial for compensation for Mr. Suraj, about information about the evolution of the case so far and the perspectives from now on, we looked at pictures of the reproduction of the situation of Mr. Suraj’s deportation (presented by the Ministry of Justice).
　
　M. Suraj was made to lay face down and was carried into the airplane, with metal handcuffs on the legs, and through the use of personal items that belonged to the Immigration officers, this is the kind of scene displayed in the pictures of the reproduction of the incident. After they made M. Suraj seat in the airplane seat, several Immigration officers were retaining M. Suraj (this is why the back of the chair fell), while his mouth was getting stuffed with a towel. Moreover, he was made to bend down forward when he was seated, which even in amateur’s eyes seems like an exaggerated pressure.

  Thinking that M. Suraj died in the middle of such an inhumane treatment, I felt a cruel indignation. The pictures shocked all the persons that participated to the informational meeting, and I think we all shared the same feeling. It was the occasion to dig into the real matter and to strengthen the determination towards making the truth become clear.