February 4, 2022
Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Yamazoe Taku on February 3 held an inquiry session with the Immigration Services Agency and the Foreign Ministry regarding the issuance of a visa to a Nigerian man who is appealing for a retrial against his wrongful conviction for a post office robbery.
Along with JCP Yamazoe, two other opposition Upper House members, the Nigerian man’s wife who is Japanese, and their supporters’ groups, including the Japan Association for Social Justice and Human Rights (Kokumin Kyuenkai), attended the inquiry.
The man was arrested in 2001 for the robbery of a post office in Hyogo’s Himeji City. In the trial, one of the suspects arrested together with him testified that he had nothing to do with the crime. In addition, no incriminating evidence against him was found. Nevertheless, he received a conviction for robbery and served a six-year term in prison.
This led to the issuance of a deportation order to him. He was granted provisional release from his detention at an immigration center on the grounds that he filed with the Supreme Court a retrial request for his case. However, if his retrial request is rejected, he will be forced to leave Japan.
In the inquiry, JCP Yamazoe pointed out that an examination of his retrial request will take much time to reach a conclusion. Yamazoe demanded that a special permission for residence in Japan be granted to the man because the temporary release program prohibits him from working.
The man’s wife pointed out that he was arrested shortly after obtaining the permanent residency visa and that he shares important family responsibilities, such as caring for three children and her grandmother.
Supporters urged government officials to take into account the child’s best interests stipulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Along with JCP Yamazoe, two other opposition Upper House members, the Nigerian man’s wife who is Japanese, and their supporters’ groups, including the Japan Association for Social Justice and Human Rights (Kokumin Kyuenkai), attended the inquiry.
The man was arrested in 2001 for the robbery of a post office in Hyogo’s Himeji City. In the trial, one of the suspects arrested together with him testified that he had nothing to do with the crime. In addition, no incriminating evidence against him was found. Nevertheless, he received a conviction for robbery and served a six-year term in prison.
This led to the issuance of a deportation order to him. He was granted provisional release from his detention at an immigration center on the grounds that he filed with the Supreme Court a retrial request for his case. However, if his retrial request is rejected, he will be forced to leave Japan.
In the inquiry, JCP Yamazoe pointed out that an examination of his retrial request will take much time to reach a conclusion. Yamazoe demanded that a special permission for residence in Japan be granted to the man because the temporary release program prohibits him from working.
The man’s wife pointed out that he was arrested shortly after obtaining the permanent residency visa and that he shares important family responsibilities, such as caring for three children and her grandmother.
Supporters urged government officials to take into account the child’s best interests stipulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
