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4 Responses to
“Japan: Letters from the Prision”

1. January 31st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
   ponta:
   1

   Oiwan Lam

   You should let Chris read the court transcript. The victim’s testimony
   and the other testimony are far from flawed.
   Haven’t you given a thought if you might be violating the human right of the rape victim by presenting one-sided story?
   Please let somebody who can understand Japanese read the court text.

2. January 31st, 2008 at 13:45 pm
   ikeo:
   2

   Don’t you fear the possibility of the second rape?
   In this case, Mr. Debito’s net activism totally lacks the fairness, and his followers’s comments may violate the human right of the victim. You should be more careful.

3. February 1st, 2008 at 2:42 am
   ponta:
   3

   The followings are my comments that Debito seems to have deleted.

   “the judge dismissed her testimony as mere wife’s defense.”

   Either Debito hasn’t read the court transcript or he is being unfair.
   I suggest you to translate the relevant part. (My English ability is far away from doing that)

   “Yuyu to keep an eye on her. When he did, and it became clear that she had something going on the side, she sought revenge on Yuyu.”

   Again, why not translate the court text? According to it, the accuser and the accused and the other witness　agreed that the accuser met yuyu for the first time on the day the incident happened.

   What was surprising to me after reading the court text is that the accused admitted that he molested the accuser in the car on the way back to M’s house. He insisted that there was a consent to it. Several hours later, the accuser reported the case to the police. The judge doubt if she would report the case to the police if there was a consent. The minor expressions have changed, but in the court’s judgement, her testimony had been consistent from the police report to the testimony at the court. She resisted but she was drunk, he went ahead and raped her two times in front of the restroom　(albeit for short timeーー just a minute or so, without ejaculation, but at the hospital, she was told she had injury on the genitals ）She lacks the motivation to set him up, by presenting the story humiliating to her. She testified things disadvantageous to her, and her testimony does not　include the statement that put him the accused to more disadvantageous position, which a person with grudge would have done.
   She used to try to find a job where she could work with gaijin because she was fond of foreign countries, but the incident has changed her attitude completely.

   Anyway I have no objection to people supporting the accused. That is a great. And it is important to pay attention to the accused account of the case. It might be even the case that a great conspiracy is going on as some people suggest. But this is a case of rape: greatest care should be taken.

   And to make a fair judgement on the case, we need both sides of the story. I strongly recommend the readership to read the court text. Debito has the court text, I wonder why he hasn’t translated the text to make his case more convincing.
   …………………………………………………….

   # ponta Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
   February 1st, 2008 at 6:26 am

   ” If Mr. Idubor has to endure this, then the accuser should too”

   This is illogical. Rather ask Mr. Aridou to delete the accused name from the archive rather than perpetually raping the accuser. (But I guess he has a permission from the accused )
   Have you read the court text? To me, the accuser’s testimony and the court’s reasoning are far from flawed.
   …………………………………………………….
   For your reference, this is not the first time he misrepresented the court record.
   http://www.transpacificradio.com/2007/12/17/japan-joins-un-12-8-56/#comment-551985

   (go to the middle of the comment about Debito)

4. February 1st, 2008 at 2:53 am
   ponta:
   4

   Oh, and please make sure by having Chris or somebody who understand Japanese check the Japanese court texts, that I am not misrepresenting them.