Global IssuesRIGHTS-JAPAN: Lifer’s Case Tells Migrant Workers' Plight
A Nepalese worker serving life for a murder he denies committing has become the rallying point for activists lobbying for the rights of migrant labour.
New evidence suggests that someone else may have committed the murder of a Japanese woman for which Govinda Prasad Mainali was arrested in 1997.
Defence counsel, Katsuhika Tsukuda, told the press last month that new DNA data, released by independent analysts in July, indicate that Mainali may be innocent.
'The DNA results show that the High Court, by basing its verdict only on an interpretation of the lower court ruling rather than a proper hearing, relied on prosecutors and ignored the possibility that a third person may have committed the crime,' said Tsukuda.
The Tokyo High Court handed down a life sentence in December 2000 after prosecutors appealed against a lower court ruling in July that year acquitting Mainali.
Human rights activists regard the final outcome of the Mainali case as crucial to the success of a campaign against recent measures taken in Japan to deter migrant labour.
Yoichi Mizukami, a former immigration official who advocates the opening of Japan's doors to migrant labour, told IPS there is a growing tendency within officialdom to establish new regulations aimed at keeping tabs on foreign workers.
The worst of these, he said, is a move by the justice ministry that requires foreigners to carry national identity cards containing their legal status and record of movements within Japan.
'A national card with stipulations that require foreigners to report every move they make is aimed at treating migrants as potential terrorists. It is particularly hurtful to migrants who may not have legal visas,' he said.
Mizukami said the current alien registration card, issued by local ward offices, is loosely regulated and does not require holders to report new relocation. Their children are entitled to health and schooling rights irrespective of legal status.
Amnesty Japan is also fighting the new registration move. Amnesty worker Sonoko Kawakami told IPS that the new strictures will allow authorities to ask migrant workers to leave summarily.
'Japanese Brazilian workers, for example, were encouraged to enter Japan during the economic bubble years of the late 1980s. Against the current job recession, they are being told to leave,' she pointed out.
Japan’s laws limit low-skilled migration into the country, but make exceptions for descendents of Japanese who emigrated to North and South America in the early 1900s. Many so-called Nikkei moved to Japan to work in small and medium enterprises during the 1990s.
In 2010, Japan had 2.2 million foreign residents forming 1.7 percent of the total population. Almost a third of Japan's foreign residents are Chinese while some 30 percent are descendents of Koreans brought to Japan before 1945.
Rights activists view the arrest of Mainali and his unravelling nightmare as the result of xenophobic attitudes, particularly towards undocumented workers of whom there are an estimated 500,000 in Japan.
Four days after the discovery of the strangled woman in her apartment, police took in Mainali for overstaying his visa and later charged him with her murder and the theft of 400 dollars from her bag.
The prosecution identified samples of semen and pubic hair found on the woman's body as belonging to Mainali, who admitted to having had sexual contact with her - but weeks before her death.
New DNA evidence showed saliva and pubic hair found on the body of a type different from Mainali's.
The prosecution has rebutted the findings, arguing that the samples could have been planted.
In September, Mainali's wife, Radhika, and elder brother, Indra, visited him in jail. Their anger and sadness at the perceived injustice was apparent.
'My brother came to Japan seeking to learn new things from a rich country and to earn an income for his family by working honestly. Instead, he was thrown into prison for a crime he has clearly not committed,' said Indra.
Mainali’s family members are convinced that he was arrested and charged because of his vulnerability as a a foreigner, and also because the police could not find the real culprit.
Rie Kumano, one of the many Japanese supporters of the accused, told IPS she joined a support group seeking his release because she was enraged by the verdict.
'I saw justice was not being served in this case. Govinda's trial was a farce as far as we are concerned and to free him stands for reforming the justice system overall,' she said.
Indeed, since the arrest of Mainali, Japan’s justice has been rocked by a series of blows to the uncontested reputation of the prosecution.
For example, in 2009 the special investigation squad of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor was found to have fabricated evidence in a case where a bureaucrat was charged with unduly favouring a particular organisation.
© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service