Sunday, November 24, 2019

First-hand experience of Institutional Racism in Japan's system for the administration of justice - Prosecutor's decision in proven criminal case

In my last post about this case, I explained how the local public prosecutor's office in Kyoto  had refused to accept the criminal complaint I had filed in this case, which was for white collar crime activity entailing a maximum penalty of 2-5 years incarceration with hard labor against 5 individuals and one corporation who acted in a conspiracy that targeted me, personally, as well as my children. The culprits are believed to be connected to local law enforcement as well as intelligence agencies (the Kyoto police, the CIA and the Japanese Public Security intelligence Agency) and/or organized crime, as described in the complaint, but the prosecutor appears to have categorically refused to investigate those claims. 

After I was compelled to notify the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office in Tokyo, the local prosecutor's office had to relent and accept the complaint, but the clerk (an individual named Kishizawa who has evinced questionable behavior) I had been dealing with refused to inform me of the fact, despite the fact that he knew I wanted to receive telephone notification and a stamp on my copy of the complaint. 

The accepted the complaint on a Friday, November 1st, before a 3-day holiday weekend in Japan. Then I called on the 5th to check on the status of the case and was informed by Kishizawa that the case had been accepted by the prosecutor on the 1st, but he claimed he hadn't promised to telephone me about that. Moreover, the prosecutor made his decision not to indict the culprits the following day, the 6th, after only 2 working days between the day he accepted the complaint and the day he took the decision. The prosecutor has an obligation to investigate the alleged crime, but it is difficult to imagine how he could have even contacted all 5 of the individuals who committed the crimes, as admitted by the prosecutor in their reason for declining to indict.

The reason was not even provided with the notice, so I had to file another request to learn that. My request and the response are shown below, but first, an excerpt of the Japanese Penal Code that explains the decision, which recognizes that the crimes were committed, but declines to indict due to circumstances.     

 第二章 公訴Chapter II Prosecution
第二百四十七条 公訴は、検察官がこれを行う。Article 247 Prosecution shall be instituted by a public prosecutor.
第二百四十八条 犯人の性格、年齢及び境遇、犯罪の軽重及び情状並びに犯罪後の情況により訴追を必要としないときは、公訴を提起しないことができる。Article 248 Where prosecution is deemed unnecessary owing to the character, age, environment, gravity of the offense, circumstances or situation after the offense, prosecution need not be instituted.

The translation of Article 248 is actually slightly lacking for want of the subject of the "character" and age", as it does of course represent the individual(s) who committed the crimes, which are implicitly acknowledged by the prosecutor in this reason for foregoing indictment. There are other reasons, such as a lack of evidence, no crime committed, etc.

In this particular case, however, there is no reasonable basis for not indicting the culprits, so I have to go through more time consuming tedious paperwork to file a protest against the decision of the prosecutor, which get heard and examined by a panel of citizens.







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