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