“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.

Important notice about Mr.Suraj's lawsuit

Thank you for your interests in Mr. Suraj's lawsuit. On Monday, January 18, the appeal court decision will be held. Pleaes Come to Court as an Observer to Support the Lawsuit.


This time, admission ticket is required to come into the court. Please make sure to come to the 2 nd distributing point at the main entrance of Tokyo high court to join the lottery by 2:40pm.

After the court, we will have a meeting to have a repoort by the plaintiff's lawyers. Please attend it as well as court.


Please invite your family and friends to be observers and lend us a hand!!!



High Court Judgment day 　＊only in Japanese

Day and time：Monday, January 18, 2016 3pm~

Place：Tokyo High Court, Court Room#825

ASIAN PEOPLE'S FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY (APFS)

Tel:03-3964-8739

E-mail:apfs-1987@nifty.com

We held APFS HOME PARTY!! (Voice from a volunteer)

On May 25th 2014, we held APFS HOME PARTY for our related people who are consulted and supporters for them.

We gathered 30 people who have various nationalities such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Philippines. About 5 members of staff also joined the events. One of the participants from Philippines cooked the meals for us and we enjoyed it. This party will be held at least once within two month for the communicating space between members, staffs and volunteers. During the party, we gave our self-introductions and we talked about “hope” individually.

What did this party give the participants? I thought this was a networking opportunity for participants. They are really busy because some manage their own restaurants and others engage in the building construction industry. One of the participants said that he does not take a leave even a day in a week. Our related people cannot meet usually. This party gives the happiness to share the present situation for each. They talked their lives. I could talk with them and learned about their countries and how they live in Japan.

I participated in APFS’s event for the first time today. It was nice that I could see the face of participants whom I will engage with. They are just one of them who are supported by APFS. I don’t know about them and their situation in Japan so I would like to know about them more through volunteering in APFS.

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.

 

A Volunteer Opinion (Ms. Taniguchi)

Hello. My name is Taniguchi. I joined APFS as a volunteer in July 2013. It was in June 2011 when I knew the existence of APFS. When I visited the office as a part of the class of the university, I was impressed to hear the story of a Bangladeshi man. He talked eagerly about Japan at that time, so I felt he thought of Japan more than us. I still remember the day.

We Japanese, how do we face the presence of "foreigners"? Through the activities in APFS and things that are treated as foreign "problem" in Japan, I feel Japanese may see them as "others", and the tendency is strong.

But "foreigners" cannot be viewed in a monolithic way. People who come to the office of APFS are also very diverse. I was stimulated to see the state of foreign people suffering from troubles actually in Japan---which is said to be "tough on foreigners". And I wonder what is “the multicultural society” everyday.

How do we “Japanese”, as a majority in Japan, face with them? And how can we make it possible to live with them in the real sense of "coexistence"?

I continue to think about these question through the activities in APFS.

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.)