Opening of Tokyo Two trial shows that Prosecution’s Case is threadbare
Doing one’s public duty and exposing large scale corruption within Government subsidised programmes can be extremely costly, as Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, the Tokyo Two, have discovered over the last eighteen months. However, if the first day of their public trial is anything to go by, there is light at the end of this dark tunnel.
February 15’s opening of trial left the prosecution struggling to prove its own arguments, as its own witnesses, the head of sales for Kyodo Senpaku – the company contracted by the government’s Institute for Cetacean Research to run the whaling fleet - admitted under defence cross examination that “souvenirs” of whale meat were given to crew, but the cost was not accounted for in financial statements. This raises further questions about the lack of transparency on the inner workings of this tax-payer funded operation. The sales executive’s admission is a prominent contradiction from an earlier public statement, where he had insisted that there was no practice of giving out souvenir meat.
The prosecution also called the manager of the Seino Transport Company in Aomori, which shipped the boxes of embezzled whale meat around Japan in April 2008. In his testimony he confirmed that he had paid the owner of the box about 30,000 yen (US$300) out of his own pocket, and did not record or report this, or even try to recover the sum from his employer. He also admitted that the owner had told him the box contained fresh food and not the “cardboard” listed on the contents sheet.
The trial hearings will reconvene on March 8, when defence witnesses will be called. These include a crew member of the whaling fleet, one of the original informants that came forward to Greenpeace and international law expert Professor Dirk Voorhoof. We hope to have a verdict by summer 2010,
The Tokyo Two continue to attract the attention of international and national media, the support of numerous human rights groups, lawyers and politicians, as well as solidarity in the form of over a quarter million people who have signed a demand to end the prosecution. These supporters recognise that the story goes well beyond the issue of whaling and the trial. It is clearly a reflection of a world in which the space to question, debate and expose, fundamental tenets that illustrate “quality of democracy”, is regularly muzzled. Against this, the Tokyo Two have represented courage, commitment and responsibility to public service.
The New Japanese Government demonstrated courage and promised hope with its support for ambitious Green House Gas emission reductions at Copenhagen in December 2009. Japan has consistently supported efforts in the developing world to fight corruption, as it believes, and quite rightly, that it affects “quality of democracy” and exacerbates poverty. The trial of the Tokyo Two provides an opportunity to the Government of Japan to demonstrate this leadership within.
Change is often hard won. But change is required today, to ensure that a democratic Japan respects human rights, upholds law and recognises civil society led legitimate investigations as a matter of public interest and governance efficacy.
The story of the Tokyo Two is a starting point in that direction. Be a part of this change. Continue to support them by joining the pledge to the Japanese Government.
