Press release - July 15, 2008
Two Greenpeace Japan activists, arrested and charged for intercepting a box of whale meat illegally smuggled off the Japanese whaling fleet, have been released on bail, after 26 days in custody.
Late last evening, a panel of three judges in Aomori, Japan,
granted the release of Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, following a
failed attempt by the local prosecutor to appeal the bail decision.
Only 10% of bail applications are successful in Japan. The two will
be reunited with their families later today. Their trial date has
not yet been set.
"We are extremely relieved that our two activists have finally
been released. However, our biggest question remains unanswered:
why did the Japanese Prosecutor drop his investigation into the
compelling evidence of whale meat embezzlement by whaling crew
members brought to him by Greenpeace?" said Frode Pleym of
Greenpeace.
Earlier this year, working from information given by former and
current employees of whaling fleet operator Kyodo Senpaku,
Greenpeace tracked the offloading of smuggled whale meat from the
factory ship Nisshin Maru destined for crew members' homes. One of
four boxes destined for the same private address was intercepted
and the contents checked. This box, containing up to US$3000 worth
of prime meat, but labelled as containing "cardboard", was
displayed at a press conference on May 15th, before being turned
over to the Tokyo District public prosecutor, who suddenly dropped
his investigation on June 10, the day the two activists were
arrested.
"We call on the Government to reinstate its investigation into
the corruption in the whaling fleet," said Pleym. "What Greenpeace
has exposed points clearly to a very big scandal at Japanese
taxpayers' expense and in clear breach of international rules
concerning Japans so-called scientific whaling programme."
Since the two activists were arrested, there has been a growing
outcry over their detention. More than 30 non-Governmental
organisations have signed up to a statement of concern. Over 1,700
letters written by New Zealanders were submitted to the Japanese
Embassy in Wellington.
On Monday, Amnesty International sent a strongly worded letter to the Japanese Prime
Minister demanding the release of Junichi and Toru. Nearly a
quarter of a million people have sent a message to the Japanese
Government calling for the two to be released and for a renewed
investigation into the whale meat embezzlement scandal, this was
backed by 35 protests at Japanese embassies and consulates in 31
countries.
Other contacts: Frode Pleym in Tokyo: +81 803 206 6083
Cindy Baxter in Amsterdam: +31 646 197 332
Kathy Cumming in New Zealand – 021 495 216
Exp. contact date: 2008-11-18 00:00:00