Tokyo Two Press Conference in Aomori

Greenpeace activist Junichi Sato (2nd left) in the company of his defence counsel, holds a press conference at the end of the 'summing up' day in court.
Toru Suzuki and colleague Junichi Sato, known as the "Tokyo Two", began trial in Aomori in February 2010 following their exposure of an embezzlement scandal inside the taxpayer-funded whaling industry. Today the Aomori District Court Prosecutor demanded they each serve a prison term of one year and six months for theft and trespass.

Unique identifier: GP022ZO

Type: Image

Shoot date: 08/06/2010

Locations: Aomori, Asia, Japan

Credit line: © Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert / Greenpeace

Ranking: ★★★★ (E)

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Tokyo Two Closing Arguments in Aomori

Greenpeace activists Toru Suzuki and Junichi Sato, the "Tokyo Two", began trial in Aomori in February 2010 following their exposure of an embezzlement scandal inside the taxpayer-funded whaling industry. Despite conducting a public interest investigation into corruption in the Japanese whaling industry, which was singled out by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the longest jail term for any Greenpeace activist in the organisation’s 40 year history was demanded in court in Japan today. Corroborating testimonies from whaling industry whistleblowers backing the allegations and contradictory testimony from prosecution witnesses have failed to prevent the severely disproportionate sentence being requested. The UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that the 26-day detention of Junichi and Toru breached their human rights. Despite this the Court Prosecutor demanded they each serve a prison term of 1 year and 6 months for theft and trespass.

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Tokyo Two Stand Trial (Photo & Videos)

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