Tokyo Two take the stand
as the prosecution tries to whitewash whale
meat scandal - 10 March 2010 - Aomori, Japan
— This week our activists,
Junichi and Toru, spent two very long and
intense days in court, defending the honourable
actions they took to expose the corruption
within Japan's whaling industry. As the
prosecution fumbled its desperate attempt
to cast the 'Tokyo Two' as criminals, it
became obvious that whaling really is on
trial in Aomori.
Having failed to keep
the truth about the embezzlement of whale
meat out of the trial at every stage - the
prosecutor suggested that since the whalers
took prime cuts of whale meat home quite
openly, and did not hide this from officials
in the industry then practice wasn't illegal.
Smells like organised crime to us! If the
whaling industry officials don't think they
had anything to hide, then why did they
try to hide it? The whaling industry costs
the Japanese people more than Y1.2 billion
(about $13 million) per year. We'd like
to see the prosecution try and explain the
"legal" whale meat gifts to the
Japanese public, as they are paid for with
taxpayer money.
Junichi presents a highly
censored document on whale meat sales from
the Fisheries Agenc of Japan, at a press
conference.
“My clients can be considered
to have not committed any offense, as what
they were doing was exposing a crime in
the greater public interest, and they did
it with complete transparency at all times.
The prosecutor is ignoring both the motivation
and justification for my client’s actions,
and doggedly attempting to restrict this
trial to one of “theft” and “trespass”,
which it is clearly not. The prosecution’s
case is threadbare, and it knows it."
-- lead Tokyo Two defence
counsel, Yuichi Kaido, in court.
Yesterday, Junichi gave evidence to the
court and today he was cross-examined along
with Toru - who explained very clearly the
comprehensive and professional nature of
their investigation and the lengths they
went to in order to substantiate the allegations
made by the whaling industry whistle blowers.
Junichi and Toru explained why they made
the decision to seize the box of embezzled
whale meat and why it was a final and crucial
piece of evidence needed before delivering
their dossier to the Tokyo Prosecutor.
State of fear
When the prosecution asked why the pair
did not report the embezzlement allegations
to the authorities immediately - Junichi
explained that he believed the police might
not investigate them unless they were compelled
by overwhelming evidence – particularly
since politicians appeared to be involved
in the scandal. He stressed that this concern
has been borne out by the subsequent heavy-handed
reaction of the Japanese authorities. No
less than 75 police officers raided our
Tokyo office and the homes of five Greenpeace
staff members. They failed to disclose relevant
evidence that we requested and have subjected
Junichi and Toru to a prosecution lasting
almost two years – while none of the whalers
have been prosecuted.
Junichi was on the stand
for 3 hours yesterday. He began by describing
his early life, his university education
in the US and Mexico, and how he was drawn
to activism against poverty and working
with Native Americans and poor communities
in Nicaragua. He spoke of his motivations
to apply for a job at Greenpeace in Japan
and told the court about our organisation
- what we do and why he decided to campaign
for the whales in Japan.
He then went on to describe
the Greenpeace whales campaign, Japan's
position on whaling and their so-called
"research" whaling programme in
the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. He outlined
the corruption that he uncovered with Toru,
the approach from two whistleblowers who
they could not ignore, how and why they
performed their investigation. He concluded
that taxpayers money was being used illegally
and that both he and Toru felt it was important
to stand up and expose corruption no matter
how high up it goes.
Junichi with the whale
meat when the Tokyo Two exposed the scandal
to the media in Japan
Rights over wrongdoing
In conclusion Junichi addressed the judges
directly, calling upon them to stand firm,
to refuse to bow to pressure from corrupt
officials desire to see ordinary citizens
punished for exposing wrongdoing in the
government. In most democratic countries
this is a given, a right, but not in Japan.
It was a very emotional direct appeal to
the court.
Toru's evidence complemented
Junichi's. He explained Greenpeace's professionalism
and sincerity for doing the right thing.
He was equally emphatic. Toru laid out his
own background for the court - describing
the charitable organsations that he created
in Japan, his work with homeless people
and local communities. He spoke of how he
became involved with the Greenpeace agriculture
campaign as a volunteer and how - following
encouragement from his wife - he ended up
working for us in his current position.
The court learned about
our history of non-violent direct action,
bearing witness, and our commitment to finding
solutions to make the world a better place.
Toru then told the court that he was certain
whaling in the Southern Ocean was wrong
and that the whale meat embezzlement was
an offence to citizens of Japan.
He explained our methods
of tracking the embezzled whale meat box,
cross checking data, ensuring things were
checked and double checked, documenting
the investigation on tape as evidence, reviewing
the Fisheries Agency public information
and websites, making calls for verification
and taking the time to go on scouting missions.
Under pressure
Toru detailed the completion of the exhaustive
investigation, and how the Tokyo Prosecutor
promised to fully investigate their claims
- only to suddenly drop the case one day
before Junichi and Toru were arrested.
Prosecutor: "Why
didn't you take the box directly to the
police?"
Toru: "We felt we needed strong proof
so the police couldn’t ignore it. We had
information that politicians were receiving
whale meat so I didn’t think the police
would take action. We felt we needed to
get media and society involved. What we
have gone through – our arrest, the failure
to disclose information, the absence of
meaningful investigation and everything
I have experienced up to this day – makes
me confident that my suspicions were right.”
He noted that the warrant
was for a Y50,000 ($500 USD) box of whale
meat and wondered why so many police were
needed. Eight police also came to Toru's
home. During the arrest one of the officers
remarked to him that it was very unusual
to have this many police involved, saying
that he thought "what you did was great."
Speaking directly to
the judges, looking them in the eye, Toru
argued that Japanese authorities should
not pressure citizens like this, citizens
who are trying to change society for the
better - by exposing unethical and illegal
activities.
UPDATE: March 11th:
Prof. Dirk Voorhoof, an independent international
expert on freedom of expression, testified
at the trial today and called for Junichi
and Toru's to be acquitted of any crime
- arguing that their actions were justified
as they were revealing detailed information
in the public interest.
He said there was no
alternative way to bring the embezzlement
information out into the open effectively
and warned that Japanese authorities have
already violated the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in
their treatment of Junichi and Toru. He
also noted that if a conviction is recorded
against the two it would go against the
ICCPR and would deter others from exposing
government corruption.
“This is not just a
case about theft and trespass. This is about
organised embezzlement and an issue of public
interest in which an NGO, in this case Greenpeace,
has fulfilled its role as a public watchdog,”
said Prof. Voorhoof. “If you convict a journalist,
a citizen or an NGO for watchdog activities,
it has a chilling effect on the future willingness
of people to participate in investigations,
and in the long term this has an inevitable
effect on the quality of democracy. This
case is a real opportunity for the court
to issue a landmark judgement, where the
right to investigate and gather information
under the ICCPR is assured, enabling Japan
to fulfil its human rights obligations”
The prosecution tried
to focus the court's attention once again
- on the box of whalemeat and the taking
of the box but Prof. Voorhoof certainly
stole the show - making eloquent points
that the local media frantically wrote down.
Silent Witness
Another key to the whole
case - is our original Whale Meat Scandal
investigation report. It dominates the court
room, defence, prosecution and witness evidence.
It is referred to constantly, it sits on
each side desks and is projected onto the
courtroom video screens and used to show
graphics of what whale meat, the box, the
transport depot and FAJ statements look
like. The Judges peer at it regularly and
there is no question that whaling is on
trial in Aomori - and in Japan.
+ More
Switzerland stands strong
against GE
09 March 2010 - Zurich,
Switzerland — The Swiss Parliament has just
extended its ban on the cultivation of genetically
engineered (GE) plants for three more years.
Originally enacted in 2005, Switzerland
will stay GE-free until at least 2013.
The original moratorium
was backed by Swiss voters in a referendum
5 years ago. Supporters of the ban included
farmers, who were concerned about the impacts
of GE crops on organic produce. Our Swiss
office has been supporting these farmers
and Swiss consumers to ensure the country
remains GE-free. This is a significant national
victory, but more than that it is an example
for the rest of the EU. It sends a strong
message to EU Commission President Barroso,
who is clearly trying to force GE crops
into the EU and is trying to bypass standard
authorisation procedures. The EU needs to
follow the Swiss example by implementing
a moratorium on all GE food in order to
protect the environment, agriculture and
people.
Greenpeace activists
planted the word "Gentechfrei"
("GE Free") alongside the railway
line between Bern and Zurich. Greenpeace
Switzerland asked for an extension of the
moratorium on growing genetically engineered
crops.
Ban Barroso
The recent backdoor approval of the GE potato,
by President Barroso, has met a wave of
strong opposition from EU member-states.
The governments of Greece, Austria, Luxembourg,
Italy, Hungary and France have all publicly
announced that they will not allow the GE
potato to be grown in their countries. While
six EU member-states (Austria, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg) have bans
in place on GE maize cultivation.
Genetically engineered
failure
Monsanto has just admitted that pests have
developed resistance to GE cotton. Read
the blog by Reyes, our campaigner in India.
GE-crops are part of an outdated intensive
agriculture model that promote the use of
environmentally harmful chemicals while
failing to generate high yields or provide
solutions for hunger and climate change.
Their costly development as 'solutions'
to world hunger or climate change masks
the real socio-economic, environmental and
political causes of these problems. GE crops
also pose unpredictable risks to human and
animal health.
Volunteer activists
created the living "GE-Free" banner
in Switzerland - in 2009.
In 2009, GE cultivation
in the European Union decreased by 11 percent.
Accross the world farmers are abandoning
GE crops due to both high prices and lack
of demand. Many farmers are instead turning
to ecological farming. They do not want
to be at the mercy of bullying multinationals
which are threatening to take control of
our food.
We are committed to
ecological farming worldwide: farming that
protects soil, water, the climate, promotes
biological diversity and does not contaminate
the environment with chemicals and GE-organisms
