Tokyo Two Trial Verdict in Aomori

Greenpeace Japan activists Toru Suzuki and Junichi Sato arrive at Aomori Court to hear the verdict in their trial. The two activists were convicted of theft and trespass after carrying out a public interest investigation into embezzlement, during which 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. The banners held by Greenpeace Japan colleagues claim the sentence is a "wrongful conviction". The trial became a landmark for Japan's legal system, after a recent opinion by the United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that authorities have breached both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, in the treatment of Sato and Suzuki.