Whaling activists to face court
Updated
A United Nations committee says Japan has breached the human rights of two Greenpeace activists who exposed an illegal trade in whale meat. The UN Human Rights Committee's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, were jailed without charge, after being arrested in 2008. The pair known as the 'Tokyo Two' are due to stand trial next Monday for theft and trespass, after tracking and intercepting a parcel of whale meat from a mail depot in northern Japan, to prove the illegal sale.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Reece Turner, Whales Campaigner, Greenpeace Australia
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TURNER: Well the decision is quite timely because there has been a long drawn out pre-trial process but it kicks off next week so the decision by the UN comes at a really important time. We expect that the trial will go on for at least three months but up until now the court really hadn't taken into consideration many of the human rights aspects of the case so we're hoping now with this decision from the UN working group that it will be forced to have a close look at the human rights that the UN working group has found the Japanese government to have breached with regards to the two activists.
LAM: And Reece what can you tell us about the treatment of your two colleagues?
TURNER: Well I know both Junichi and Toru quite well, they're fantastic people and have dedicated themselves to environmental causes, particularly the issue of whaling. They have worked in the interests of the campaign and the whales and particularly in the context of Japan where there isn't a history or culture of activism. They've acted quite bravely. It's been a long drawn out process for the activists. This incident happened over two years ago. The initial circumstances of their arrest were that they were detained for 23 days before being charged, so that is largely the part why the UN working group has come down so strongly against the Japanese government.
LAM: And do you know how the Greenpeace defence team will argue the case?
TURNER: There will be a strong emphasis on the context, the broader context of what the two activists did. So certainly Greenpeace won't be contesting the fact that the two activists entered private property and intercepted one box of whale meat. Those facts won't be disputed. But what will be contested is that the broader context of the two activists looking to expose the whale meat scandal should be taken into consideration. Up until now the court has refused to look at that broader context, and of course that doesn't sit well at all with standing conventions around human rights and normal investigative journalism practices. These two activists were seeking to expose a broad, widespread corruption within the whaling industry, and that's why they took the measures that they did.
LAM: And Greenpeace says this is a political trial because as you pointed out that the two had uncovered an illegal black-marketing of whale meat. Has there been any evidence of Japanese government interference in the case?
TURNER: Well the circumstances around the arrests clearly point to politically motivated charges. The two activists as soon as they intercepted the whale meat and documented it they handed it over to the Tokyo prosecutors and staged a press conference. The Tokyo prosecution said it would have a look and start an investigation. Twenty three days later when the two were arrested and investigation into the whale meat embezzlement were dropped. So on the same day that the two activists were charged, investigations into whale meat embezzlement scandal which the activists spurred, were dropped. So it can hardly be seen as a coincidence.
LAM: And just briefly Reece the conviction rate in criminal cases in Japan I understand is almost 99 per cent, do you think your colleagues will get a fair trial?
TURNER: It's just over 99 per cent so we do hope that the renewed attention and the public attention upon the case combined with, of course, the UN ruling will cause the judges in this case to take note and not go through the normal process, which seems to be the case in Japan of almost automatic finding of guilt.
