The Tokyo Two exposed widespread corruption in the Japanese government’s Southern Ocean whaling programme. Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki were convicted on September 6, 2010 at the district court of Aomori, Japan of theft and trespass as part of a public interest investigation into embezzlement.
During the investigation, they intercepted as evidence, one of numerous boxes of whale meat coming from the whaling factory ship the Nisshin Maru and destined for private use, which breaches the regulations of the taxpayer-funded programme.
Monday’s (Sep 6, 2010) court sentence was criticised world over by activists and volunteers who held similar demonstrations at Japanese embassies in their respective countries.
“This sentence is totally disproportionate and completely undeserved. The Tokyo Two set out to reveal the truth about the government’s whaling programme, but instead have been punished while those behind the misuse of public money walk free”, said Shivani Shah, campaigner, Greenpeace India.
Responding to the verdict, Junichi Sato said, "while the court acknowledged that there were questionable practices in the whaling industry, it did not recognise the right to expose these, as is guaranteed under international law”.
Following their arrest in June 2008, Sato and Suzuki were subjected to a 26-day detention, that the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (1) considered a breach of their human rights and politically motivated, followed by a two-year prosecution. During the trial, whalers and whaling officials consistently contradicted their own and each others' evidence about the embezzlement.
The case of Sato and Suzuki has generated significant international attention, from senior political figures, including Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, international human rights groups and legal experts (2). During a visit to Japan earlier this year, the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed concern about the case particularly with regard to freedom of expression and association. She emphasised the importance of investigations by NGOs to society in general and how their work should be respected.
“We are here to express our solidarity and uphold the right to protest as citizens of the world’s largest democracy. The Whistleblower Protection bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha, is a step in the right direction. The Act, when passed, would help protect the rights of the Indian citizens” added Shivani Shah.
The freedom to peacefully expose wrongdoing is not only a crucial part of any democracy; it is a right that must be defended. Activists are not criminals, and to treat them as such has a chilling effect in society, undermining the quality of democracy. Greenpeace will continue to make this case a global priority until this unjust conviction is overturned.
Notes to Editor
1) In March 2009, Amnesty International lodged a complaint about the treatment of Sato and Suzuki to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The Working Group asked the Japanese government to explain its actions; however, the authorities limited their response to explaining Japan's criminal justice system and claiming, without substantive explanation, that the complaint was unfounded.
The Working Group did not concur, stating that the Japanese authorities have breached articles 18, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 18 and 19 of the ICCPR. It also expressed concern that articles 2, 10 and 14 of the ICCPR, relating to the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial have not been respected.
The full opinion can be found here: http://www.greenpeace.org/tokyo-two/wgad-opinion
2) http://www.greenpeace.org/international/t2-statement-of-concern/
In January 2008, Greenpeace began an investigation into insider allegations that organised whale meat embezzlement was being conducted by crew inside Japan's so-called ’scientific‘ whaling programme, which is funded by Japanese taxpayers. The informer was previously involved in the whaling programme, and following his advice Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki began an investigation, eventually discovering firm proof that cardboard boxes containing whale meat were being secretly shipped to the homes of whaling fleet crew - and then sold for personal profit. Junichi delivered a box of this whale meat to the Tokyo Prosecutors' Office in May 2008, and filed a report of embezzlement. However, the embezzlement investigation was dropped on 20 June - the same day that both men were arrested and then held for 26 days, 23 of which were without charge.
More:
http://www.greenpeace.org/tokyo-two
http://www.greenpeace.org/tokyo-two/whaling-on-trial
For more information please contact
Hozefa Merchant-Greenpeace India communications, +919819592410 
Areeba Hamid, campaigner, Greenpeace India, +919900569456 
Greg McNevin - Greenpeace International Communications, +81 (0) 80 5416 6506, 
Photo and video of from today’s court appearance and activities are available. Please contact: Greenpeace International picture desk, Amsterdam: 
(+31 (0) 2 0718 2470) Greenpeace International video, Amsterdam: 
(+31 (0) 646 162 015)