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I found this article dealing with one Nikkei's experiences with the Japanese judicial system; taken from [DLMURL="http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news"]Mainichi Interactive[/DLMURL], Oct. 18,2001:
'Racist' judge jails foreigner found not guilty
A Tokyo High Court judge has ordered a Brazilian man to be jailed during his trial even though the defendant was found not guilty in an earlier trial.
Presiding Judge Taketaka Nakagawa complied with a prosecution request to jail Roberto Tokunaga because of fears that he may escape or conceal evidence that could lead to his conviction for inflicting bodily injury resulting in the death of his 3-year-old daughter.
Tokunaga had been found not guilty by the Matsumoto Branch of the Nagano District Court, but will be jailed anyway.
It is extremely rare for courts to implement such a move, but the same grounds were for cited for jailing a Nepalese man found not guilty of the 1997 murder of a Tokyo woman who moonlighted as a prostitute.
Tokunaga's lawyers called the court's decision "racist."
"It was an unfair decision made because the defendant is a foreigner. It was racist," Tsuyoshi Kamijo, Tokunaga's lawyer, said. "Having been found not guilty, his only worry was finding a job, not running away or hiding evidence."
Tokunaga's problem seems to have arisen because he told Nakagawa on several occasions when his hearing opened at the Tokyo High Court on Wednesday that the only address he could remember was the one in Nagano Prefecture where he lived when charged with his daughter's killing. Refusing to give the judge the answer he wanted gave grounds for Nakagawa to say that Tokunaga had no fixed address. That, together with fear of escape of concealment of evidence, is sufficient grounds for a defendant in a high court trial to be jailed during their hearing even if found not guilty in the earlier trial.
Copyright ﾂｩ Mainichi Interactive
'Racist' judge jails foreigner found not guilty
A Tokyo High Court judge has ordered a Brazilian man to be jailed during his trial even though the defendant was found not guilty in an earlier trial.
Presiding Judge Taketaka Nakagawa complied with a prosecution request to jail Roberto Tokunaga because of fears that he may escape or conceal evidence that could lead to his conviction for inflicting bodily injury resulting in the death of his 3-year-old daughter.
Tokunaga had been found not guilty by the Matsumoto Branch of the Nagano District Court, but will be jailed anyway.
It is extremely rare for courts to implement such a move, but the same grounds were for cited for jailing a Nepalese man found not guilty of the 1997 murder of a Tokyo woman who moonlighted as a prostitute.
Tokunaga's lawyers called the court's decision "racist."
"It was an unfair decision made because the defendant is a foreigner. It was racist," Tsuyoshi Kamijo, Tokunaga's lawyer, said. "Having been found not guilty, his only worry was finding a job, not running away or hiding evidence."
Tokunaga's problem seems to have arisen because he told Nakagawa on several occasions when his hearing opened at the Tokyo High Court on Wednesday that the only address he could remember was the one in Nagano Prefecture where he lived when charged with his daughter's killing. Refusing to give the judge the answer he wanted gave grounds for Nakagawa to say that Tokunaga had no fixed address. That, together with fear of escape of concealment of evidence, is sufficient grounds for a defendant in a high court trial to be jailed during their hearing even if found not guilty in the earlier trial.
Copyright ﾂｩ Mainichi Interactive
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