The second phase of the Tokyo 2 trial began on Monday and here is a brief synopsis of some of the highlights so far...
Monday: A defence witness, a former whaler, took the stand and revealed that the whalers kept for themselves the meat from baby whales from the SO Whale Sanctuary and that the ICR and whaling company did not conduct a true investigation into the allegations made by Greenpeace as they stated they would since our informer was not interviewed.
*UPDATE: March 9th, A former whaler detailed the scale of corruption that he witnessed during his time with the whaling fleet. He told the court that souvenir whale meat was sent to Diet Members (Japanese parliamentarians) and to officials from the Fisheries Agency of Japan. He added that officials, on the whaling fleet's factory ship, took large portions of highly prized tail meat for themselves - claiming it was for research purposes. He also told the court - that when he raised his concerns with officials from Kyodo Senpaku, the fleet operator, he was transferred to a different job onboard one of the “non-lethal” research ships.
The informer, who was a whaler for 40 years, was allowed to give evidence behind a screen to protect his identity from all but the judges and legal representatives, for fear of reprisal over his incriminating testimony. He said that after he came to us as an informer, the police tried to get him to change his statement before the trial and to deny he had ever witnessed or taken part any embezzlement of whale meat. He refused.
Tuesday: Junichi took the stand and described his personal motivations for working with Greenpeace, why he pursued the informer's allegations and he presented evidence to the court.
Today: Junichi and Toru took the stand. It was an intense day as Junichi and Toru were cross-examined, explaining why they seized the box of whale meat, and the role fear of the heavy-handed reaction by officials played in their timing of presenting the box of whale meat and evidence to the Tokyo prosecutor. An emotional moment occurred when Toru explained his experience with his hunger strike, showing his dedication to finding the truth and defending the whales. An advisory on today's proceedings below.
Tokyo two take the stand, amidst absurd prosecution tactics to whitewash whale meat embezzlement scandal
Aomori, March 10, 2010 – The prosecution case against Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, the two defendants in the Tokyo Two trial, stumbled on today with the prosecutor attempting in vain to cast them as criminal conspirators during his cross-examination.
Having failed to keep discussion of the underlying whale meat embezzlement scandal out of the trial at every stage, yesterday the prosecutor tried a new argument, claiming that since the whalers took meat home quite openly, with apparent tacit consent of the authorities, then the practice could not be considered illegal.
“My clients can be considered to have not committed any offence, as what they were doing was exposing a crime in the greater public interest, and they did it with complete transparency at all times,” said lead Tokyo Two defence counsel, Yuichi Kaido.
“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.”
Suzuki explained very clearly to the court the comprehensive and professional nature of the Greenpeace investigation and the extensive steps that were taken to corroborate the whistleblower’s allegations before deciding to seize the box as a final, crucial, piece of evidence.
When asked why he had not immediately reported the matter to the authorities, Suzuki explained that he believed the police might not investigate unless they were forced to by overwhelming evidence – particularly since politicians appeared to be involved in the scandal. He stressed this fear has now been proven by the authorities’ heavy-handed reaction – deploying 75 police officers to raid the Greenpeace offices and homes of five staff members, their failure to disclose relevant evidence, and the subjecting of the Tokyo Two to a prosecution lasting almost two years – while none of the whalers has been prosecuted.
Both Sato and Suzuki said that taking steps necessary to expose wrongdoing is a responsibility of all Japanese citizens and it should be a right in Japan. Suzuki further called upon the court to stand firm and not let pressure from officials stand in the way of ordinary citizens right to expose wrongdoing.