2008/06/30

We strongly protest against the detention of the two activists of Greenpeace

June, 28th 2008

Lawyers' Network for Human Rights Observation around the G8 Summit (WATCH)

On April 20, 2008, Aomori Prefectural Police and Tokyo Metropolitan Police Public Security Division arrested two Greenpeace Japan activists for theft and trespassing. The activists are accused first of stealing a cardboard box that contained the meat of a whale harvested by a Japanese scientific whaling ship, and which had been stored in a delivery company in Aomori; and secondly they are accused of handing over the stolen whale meat to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office. The police also searched Greenpeace offices as part of their investigation.

According to the arrested activists, their act was not a mere act of theft or trespassing, rather it was intended as a denouncement of the embezzlement of whale meat by the crew of a scientific whaling ship financed with tax payers' money. Furthermore, the activists had already submitted a report in which they disclosed the details of their plan. Also they had declared that they were willing to appear at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office anytime. There was therefore no reason to suspect that they would conceal evidence or that they would flee; this removes the justifications for the detention of the two activists.

Despite this lack of legal premises for detention, the Aomori Prefectural Police and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Public Security Division are still detaining the activists, an act which is unjust, illegal and illegitimate.

This spectacle on the eve of the G8 Summit has provoked expressions of concern in different parts of the society. Both mass media and activists are concerned that the police intend to intimidate the whole civil movement. The evening paper of Niigata Nippo as of June 20th says: "It is disturbing that there could be a link between the arrests and the G8 Summit. The police behavior can be interpreted as a warning against radical civil organisations which do not refrain from illegal acts to achieve their aims. If this assumption is true, it is very alarming (...) The implementation of law should be strict, but with no political intentions."

It is clear that the police intend to intimidate the civil movement before the G8 Summit by carrying out disproportionate control, even if it means risking international protests on the eve of the Summit. The fact that the Public Security Police lead the investigation underlines this stance.

The arrest of the two activists is not only a human rights violation with regard to the unjustifiable arrest, detention and investigation, but also a challenge against the freedom of expression. Police repression against the activists' denunciation obstructs the legitimate activities of both Japanese civil society and international society and is therefore internationally unacceptable and subject to global criticism as an affront to humanity.

The Lawyers' Network for Human Rights Monitoring around the G8 Summit is concerned that this incident will obstruct the use of freedom of speech, the protest activities and the denunciation activities concerning crimes against public interest. It thereby strongly demands that free activities and free spaces granted in the Japanese Constitution de jure be guaranteed de facto.

2008/06/27

Activities of WATCH in case of arrests and other police repressions

WATCH is a network of lawyers established to monitor human rights infringements by police authorities before and during the G8 Summit in 2008. Watch exists parallel to other legal teams organised by activists.
WATCH has nothing to do with these other legal teams managerially, but WATCH is in contact and exchanges information with them.

The prime objective of WATCH is to prevent human rights infringements. In order to achieve this object, WATCH has published basic legal information about the criminal procedure in Japan and other topics necessary for activists to protect themselves against illegal repression.
Furthermore, WATCH will attend the demonstration in Sapporo on July 5th and observe police behaviour, with the support of media activists record cases of police repression, and publish these cases for the scrutiny of international society.

As a basic principle, WATCH does not directly support people who have been arrested. Also, WATCH does not collect comprehensive information about all the arrestees and organise support for these people. If an activist from abroad gets arrested, it is the task of the inviting group to organise support for him/her. If there is no inviting group, WATCH will do the best to give support, but please be forewarned that, due to lack of personnel, WATCH is not able to offer support in every case.

If you get arrested, please ask for the so-called duty lawyer, in Japanese tôban bengoshi. The duty lawyer is a lawyer provided by the local bar association, and the first time she or he provides you with legal counsel it is free of charge. You can imagine the duty lawyer as an emergency doctor who gives you a first-aid treatment. You can call her or him just by saying to the police at the police station that you want to see a duty lawyer.
Then the police will contact the local bar association which will send a duty lawyer to you. Also, your friends and supporters can call the local bar association to order a duty lawyer for you. The telephone numbers are listed at the end of this text.
The duty lawyer interviews the arrested person in the absence of police officers and listens to what the arrestee says, gives him/her explanation about his/her rights and the legal procedure and he/she arranges communication between the arrestee and the outside world. If you have invitation groups or other groups who are in charge of taking care of you, ask the duty lawyer to contact them on your behalf.

If you wish to have a legal support by a lawyer after your first interview with the duty lawyer, you have to appoint the duty lawyer or any other lawyer as a private defense lawyer and pay money. However, in certain cases you can make use of financial aid. For details, please ask the duty lawyer.

Duty lawyers are organised by the local bar associations. WATCH is not linked with the duty lawyers. But some members of WATCH may also serve as duty lawyers or as private defense lawyers.

Apart from WATCH, there is a private organisation called Kyûen Renraku Center ("Support Contact Center", tel. 03-3591-1301) which specializes in organising support for arrested activists. If an activist from abroad gets arrested, he/she can also demand at the police station for the police to contact the Kyûen Renraku Center. Kyûen Renraku Center is in fact a specialist in support activities. However, the support by the Kyûen Renraku Center may be limited in Hokkaido owing to geographical reasons. Also, from a linguistic point of view, it might be better for the international activists to ask for a duty lawyer, because the local bar association is more likely to be able to send you an interpreter along with the duty lawyer.

Phone numbers for duty lawyers:

Sapporo 011-272-1010
Tokyo 03-3580-0082
Osaka 06-6363-0080

These phone numbers are meant for the friends and helpers who want to ask for a duty lawyer for the arrestee. The arrestee him-/herself can just say "Please call a duty lawyer" to the police officer at the police station. It might be helpful to write "tôban bengoshi" on your arm before going to a demonstration.

2008/06/22

Immigration Hotline

WATCH offers an emergency hotline to help those who are having troubles to enter Japan with regard to the G8 Summit or highly possible to face such troubles, and those who are inviting such people to Japan.

The following telephone number should be valid till the end of July.

(+81) +80 3410 2780

If you pass this number to third parties, please make sure to circulate
the text above at the same time.

Basic information about the criminal procedure in Japan

Dear visitors to Japan!

This brochure will give you the minimum knowledge you should have about the criminal procedure in Japan when visiting.

1. Risks when being arrested

Once arrested by the police in Japan, and provided that the prosecutor requests to extend your detention within 72 hours of your arrest and that the judge allows this request, you can be detained initially for 10 days, with the high possibility that your detention will be extended for another 10 days, for a maximum total of 23 days in detention. So, you have to be aware that you may be kept in detention for a little over three weeks once you are arrested.
Furthermore, in Japan, it is very common that detainees are kept in a police cell even after the judge’s decision to detain you, a practice which is quite uncommon in the rest of the world. This system, called the "substitute prison", is internationally criticised and was subject to an examination in the process of the Universal Periodic Review by the United Nations Human Rights Council in June of this year. Through the "substitute prison", the police are able to exercise total control over you 24 hours a day and they will usually perform interrogations from morning until night, occasionally ignoring sleeping hours (which start at 9 p.m.).
In addition, during a possible 23 days of detention, you may be denied contact with everyone besides your lawyer. ("prohibition of contact")
In Japan, you have no right to a phone call. If you have a moblie phone, it will be confiscated during your detention.

2. What to do if you are arrested

Once you are arrested, you will be brought to a police station, where a personal search and a search of your personal belongings will be carried out before you are put into a cell. The police will take away your jewelry, ties and belts etc. during your detention.
If you are arrested, ask the police immediately to call the duty lawyer ("tôban bengoshi"). The local bar association will send you a lawyer with an interpretor on the same day or on the next day at the latest. The first consultation by the duty lawyer is for free. If you meet the lawyer, ask him to contact people you know and who belong to activist groups in Japan.
If you decide to appoint a lawyer for criminal procedures following your arrest, in certain cases, you can make use of the legal aid service in Japan, so that you do not have to pay the costs for appointing a lawyer on your own. For more information about the legal fees, please ask the duty lawyer who will come to the first visit.

Contact list of the duty lawyers:
Sapporo 011-272-1010
Tokyo 03-3580-0082
Osaka 06-6363-0080

2008/06/17

Protestation against the tightening of immigration restrictions in relation to the G8 Summit

June 11, 2008
WATCH (Lawyers’ Network for Human Rights Observation around the G8 Summit)

For the forthcoming G8 Summit at Lake Toya in Hokkaido from July 7 to 9, many NGOs and citizen groups are preparing and organizing events relating to human rights, peace, environment and other subjects. Many NGO activists and other civil movement activists from abroad are planning to come to Japan to take part at various G8-related projects.

However, there are reports that the Japanese authorities are handling immigration control very rigidly with regard to the Summit, in several cases even preventing international activists from entering Japan.

In particular, foreign activists who have been convicted of a political crime are required to prove that their crime was political, and provide evidence that they are allowed to enter Japan despite their criminal record, which is according to the political crime exception from the ground for denial of landing as ruled in Section 5 Paragraph 1 Number 4 Phrase 2 Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act ("Immigration Control Act"). Thus, as a condition for recognizing someone as a political criminal, the authorities demand from her/him to submit documents which are extraordinary difficult, if not impossible to produce within an ordinary visa issuance procedure. What's more, of people with a political crime record many are often internationally renowned activists, therefore applying formal and rigid criteria to what counts as evidence of political crimes may damage the credibility of Japanese society.
Recently, a former activist of the African National Congress, Mr. Trevor Ngwane, who was planning to take part at meetings and events related to TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) from May 28 to 30, was de facto denied entrance to Japan. In fact, Mr. Ngwane has been arrested once in the past, but he was exonerated, so that he currently does not fall under any of the grounds for denial of entry into Japan at all. Nevertheless, on the eve of leaving for Japan, the Foreign Ministry demanded that he produce a certificate issued by the South African Police to the effect that he had never committed any crime. Even though Mr. Ngwane then submitted an affidavit that he had never been punished before, which he obtained from police, the Foreign Ministry denied to issue him a visa under the pretext of obtaining verification, so that Mr. Ngwane could not embark upon his airplane as planned and had to abandon his visit to Japan.

Besides Mr. Ngwane's case, a member of a Korean civil group was denied entry to Japan, sent back to Korea and was allowed to enter only upon her second attempt; also a German NGO activist was rejected at the Otaru Harbour in March. Furthermore, the famous Italian philosopher and political thinker, Antonio Negri, was asked to produce the same documents as in Mr. Ngwane’s case, resulting in the cancellation of his visit. We still feel keenly the astonishment throughout the world about the Japanese government's lack of understanding. We hear that many visa applications are still being examined by the consulary division of the Foreign Ministry.

Associating legitimate civil activities around the G8 Summit with "terrorism" without any justification, and restricting the immigration control systematically is irresponsible behaviour towards international society. International law obligates a state to provide full protection for freedom of expression, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly for civil movements. This obligation applies self-evidently when executing security measures and controls.

We demand that the Japanese authorities respect the rights of political criminals granted in Section 5 Paragraph 1 Number 4 Phrase 2 Immigration Control Act and that the Japanese government does everything in its power to stop hindering foreign NGO activists from coming to Japan.

2008/06/04

Immigration Q&A (Esperanto)

WATCH / Watch Human Rights on Summit
Obserbo al Homaraj Rajtoj che la Pinta Konferenco

Demando-1 Kia proceso necesas por eniri Japanion kaj restadi je la Pinta
Konferenco ?
Respondo-1 Principe necesas akiro de vizo kaj enira permeso che la pasporta
kontrolejo. La vizo estas tiu, kiu ¡Èrekomendas¡É la taugecon de
eniro-restado en Japanio de tiu alilandano.
Atentu, ke sen la sukceso de eniro-kontrolo oni ne povas enjapaniighi ech
kun vizo.
La enir-promeson la oficejo donas post la enlandigha kontrolo fare de
translima oficisto che la pasporta kontrolejo kun la konfirmo, ke vi estas
konvena al kondichoj eniraj.

Por restado kun iom da aktiveco post la enlandigho necesas ¡Èrestada
kondicho¡É. Che enlandigha promeso la translima oficisto decidas la restadan
kondichon kaj la longon kondiche de ties celo de la eniro-restado.
Alilandanoj povas aktivi enkadre de la restada kondicho kaj povas aktivi je
ordinara socia vivo. Konsidereble ke la kazo de enjapaniigho pri la Pinta
Konferenco kongruus kun ¡Èmallonga restado¡É ordinare.

D-2 Chu vizo estas necesa ? Kiu lando ne bezonas la vizon ?
R-2 Principe necesas vizo. Antau la aliro al Japanio oni devas akiri vizon
che la ambasadorejo au konsulejo de Japanio eksterjapanie.
Tamen je ¡Èmallonga restado¡É la vizo estas nedevigebla al oni el pli ol 60
landoj, kies liston vi povas vidi en
http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/02.html#a
Por ¡Èmallonga restado¡É tiu, kiu havas la pasporton de tiuj landoj, povas
ne porti vizon.

D-3 Kia estas la proceso de la enlandigho ? Kion la oficisto demandas che
la enira kontrolo ?
R-3 Che la pasporta kontrolejo vi montros al la translima oficisto sian
pasporton, vizon kaj el/enlandan registran karton.
La oficisto kontrolos la validecon de viaj pasporo kaj vizo, kaj kontrolos
ilian taugecon al eniraj kondichoj. Se la oficisto determinos la taugecon
al eniraj kondichoj, tiu prenos viajn fingromarkojn kaj fotojn (Se rifuzi,
ne povas eniri), stampos la enirpermesan signon sur vian pasporton. Tiel vi
ricevis restadan kondichon.

La eniraj kondichoj estas tiaj :
A) La pasporto kaj la vizo (se necesas) estu validaj.
B) Diro pri la farota aktivo estu vera.
C) La longo de restado kongruu kun la regulo de ordeno de la Legha
Ministrejo. (90, 30 au 15 tagoj okaze de ¡Èmallonga restado¡É)
D) Kun La eniron malpermesanta kondicho ne kongruu.
Kio estas la eniron malpermesanta kondicho ? Ekzemple :
l Escepte de politika krimo, punita persono (vidu R-6)
l Tiu, kiu, rilate al internacia konkurso au internacia konferenco, en kiu
partoprenas regnestroj au ministraj ranguloj el chiu lando, estas punita,
au forpelita el Japanio au el alilando (inkluzive de la kazoj, kaj ke tiu
mempiede ellasis la landon akceptinte ordonon de ellaso, kaj ke ties
enlandigho estis malakcepita), malobeinte japanian au alilandan leghon
konsekvence de sia mortigo, vundado, violento, minaco au/kaj rompo al
konstruajho au ajho, farontus mortigon, vundadon, violenton, mimacon au/kaj
rompon al konstruajho au ajho en la okazejo de tiu internacia konkurso ktp,
au en la teritorio de la munincipo, en kiu situas la okazejo, au en
chirkaua loko por iu ajn au por amaso, rilate al la proceso/rezulto de
internacia konkurso/konferenco, au celante malhelpi ties glatan sinsekvon.
l Tiu, kiu havas sufican motivon agnoskitan che la Ministro pri Leghoj, ke
tiu povontus fari la agon kiu difektus profiton au publikan ordon de
Japanio.

Supozeble la translima oficisto demandos vin pri i.a. via celo eniri kaj la
longon de restado multe. Krome se trovighos dubo pri aliaj kondichoj, tiu
demandos pri ili.

La Ministrejo pri Leghoj komunikante kun la Polica Administrejo kaj la la
Ministrejo pri Fremdaj Aferoj, kolektas informojn el eksteraj landoj. Povas
esti, ke jam ampleksas la informoj de oficiale krime traktitaj homoj rilate
al la okazintaj internaciaj konferencoj ekz. Pintaj Konferencoj, APEC, WTO.
Tre povas esti, ke se vi spertis oficialan punon, la eniron malpermesanta
kondicho trafus vin lau la funkcio de la translima ofico.

D-4 Kiel pruvi sian taugecon al la enira kondicho ?
R-4 Pripenseble, ke de antaue vi preparu chi-tiujn dokumentojn por
laubezona montro al la translima oficisto.
1. Eljapaniigha bileto au anstataua garantipapero de vetura firmao (ekz.
Revena bileto de aviadilo au shipo)
2. Pasporto povanta eniri landojn krom Japanion
3. Dokumento, kiu atestas elspezan kapablon por sia restado (preferindas ekz
konfirmilo pri enspezo emisiita de publika organizo, konfirmilo pri
monshpara resto (ne kopio). Eble bezonota kosto malsamus lau la aktivo kaj
restodauro en Japanio.)
4. Ceteraj scihelpaj dokumentoj (ekz. invita letero, dokumentoj de alighonta
kunsido au alispecaj kunvenoj, planskemo de restado ktp t.e. dokumentoj
pruvontaj aktivadon en Japanio, perspektive diferencaj al ties unuopaj
aferoj.)

D-5 Chu necesas fiksi loghlokon ?
R-5 De antaue vi devas fiksi vian loghlokon kaj devos respondi, kiam la
translima oficisto demandos pri tio.

D-6 Se oni havas krimon en sia kariero, chu tiun trafos malakcepto che la
eniro ?
R-6 Pri krimo au trudata ellandigho en sia kariero, kiu rilatas al
internacia konferenco
Tre povas esti lau la translima ofico, ke rilate al G8 Pinta Konferenco
malakcepto trafos tiun per la eniron malpermesanta kondicho, se tiu jam
estis punita, ellandigita au malakceptita che landlimo pro sia mortigo,
vundado, minaco au/kaj rompo al konstruajho au al ajho en Japanio au alia
lando rilate al okazita internacia konferenco.

Pri alia krimo en sia kariero
Tiu punita pro sia draga krimo
Tiu punita per punlaboro au malliberigo pli ol jaron au similaj.
Esceptas tiu punita pro sia krimo politika.
La esprimo ¡Ètiu punita¡É inkluzivas ne punitan dum indulga tempo kaj ne
punitan post indulga tempo dum kiu li/shi ne krimis, ne taksante chu punita
au ne, chu nun punata au jam finpunita.
Diskuteble, kio estas politika krimo. Tamen oni diras, ke tia politika
krimo, kiu konsistas el ordinara krimo ezp. mortigo, bruligo, ekster
t.n.pura politika krimo, ech se tio devenas de politika celo, ne estos
agnoskita ¡Èpolitika krimo¡É.

D-7 Chu necesas invitilo ?
R-7 Kiam oni akiras vizon por partopreni en konferenco, kunveno ktp,
necesas invitilon por postulo de vizo.
Kvankam che enira postulproceso ne tiel devigata estas invitilo, por pruvi
la datumon de la aktivo en Japanio che okazebla neceso, se vi venus Japanion
partopreni en konferenco, kunveno ktp, estus bone prepari invitilon.

D-8 Se malakcepto barus enlandighon, kio okazus ?
R-8 Kiam la landlima oficisto konkludas ke vi ne taugas al la enira
kondicho, senprokraste transsendos vin al speciala inspektisto, kiu
ekzamenos vin bushe.
En tiu ekzameno anstatauulo kaj unu el ties parenco au konatoj povas
kunesti.
En ghi oni povas doni pruvajhon kaj ekzameni pruvhomon.

Se la speciala inspektisto konkludos vin tauga al la enira kondicho, vi
povas ricevi permeson enlandighi.
Se la speciala inspektisto konkludos vin ne tauga al la enira kondicho, vi
ellandighos obeinte la konkludon, au proponos malaprobon al la Ministro pri
Leghoj antau tri tagoj post la ricevo de la anonco.

Se la Ministro pri Leghoj konkludos ke la malaproba propono havas ghustan
kialon, vi ricevos permeson enlandighi.
Se ¡Èeksterordinara afero devigi povigi enlandighon ¡É estas agnoskita ech
sen kialo, la enlandigho povas esti permesita speciale (Enlandigha Speciala
Permeso).

La periodoj ekde la pronono de la malaprobo ghis la konkludo estas malsamaj
lau ties aferoj. Se la konkludo ne venas longtempe, dume vi devas loghi en
la kontrau-enira ejo en la aerhevena domo, au proksima hotelo k.a. La
koston oni devos pagi mem.

Se la Ministro pri Legho konkludos, ke la malaproba propono ne havas ghustan
kialon, tiam venos forlasigan ordonon kun fiksado de la dato kaj la aviadilo
de forlaso.
Se la ricevinto de la forlasigan ordonon ne forlasos Japanion malfruiginte
tion, komencighas truda forlasigita proceso, kiu enigis tiun homon en la
malliberejon de la Administrejo pri Enlandigho.

WATCH / Watch Human Rights on Summit
Obserbo al Homaraj Rajtoj che la Pinta Konferenco

WATCH estas grupo, kiu traktos la prihomrajtan difektadon far de la gardado
de la Pinta Konferenco apud Toya-ko en 2008, konsistanta el chefe advokatoj
kaj aliaj.

Senrespondecaj aferoj
La utiligon de tiu chi Web (sekve nur esprimas ¡ÈWeb¡É) oni rajtas nur sub
la sekvantajn kondichojn.
La utiligo de Web signifas konsenton al tiuj kondichoj.

La informoj de Web estos renovigitaj sen antausciigo.

Informoj, kiujn WATCH aperigis sur Web, au juraj kaj aliaj informoj, kiujn
WATCH donas pre retletero (sekve nur esprimas ¡ÈInformoj¡É) estas donataj de
WATCH zorgoplene atentante verecon kaj novecon de Informoj surbaze de juro,
praktiko, hipotezo en ekzemploj kaj teorio, kaj aliaj informfontoj ; sed pri
la sekvantaj aferoj nenion respondecas.

l Akurateco, perfekteco kaj pleja noveco de Informoj
l Akurateco, perfekteco kaj pleja noveco de ligitaj hejmpaghoj
l Tio, kiel ekstersubjekta- eksterobjekta homo konkludas unuopajn aferojn
l Tia kazo, ke la Informo-baza ago au neago de utiliganto de Web au
ricevanto de la retletero (sekve ¡ÈUzanto¡É) kreus malprofiton
l Ceteraj malprofitoj rezultitaj de la uzo de Web au la ligitaj hejmpaghoj.

Interalie pri informoj pri la Administrejo pri Enlandigho
*Tio, kiel la Administrejo au la viza eldonejo ktp konkludos pri unuopaj
aferoj.
*Se Uzanto ne povus eniri Japanion kaj la vojagha elspezo kaj aliaj elspezoj
malfruktus, au suferus alian malprofiton, WATCH nenion respondecos.

WATCH donas Informojn nur cele de konsilo, tamen decidon de ago post la
ekhavo de Informoj faras propra Uzanto. WATCH ne respondecas al la ago au
neago de Uzantoj, kies ago/neago surbazas sur Informoj.
Kaj la dono de Informoj neniam naskas inter WATCH kaj Uzantoj la rilaton de
advokato kaj kliento.