National
Adam Westlake on Apr 1 2013
Recently declassified documents in
South Korea have revealed that Seoul and Tokyo were engaged in a diplomatic row in 1969 after an army deserter from the former snuck his way into Japan in order to defect to the North. After then 26 year old Chung Hoon-sang was arrested in Japan for illegally entering the country, he requested asylum and asked that he be sent to
Pyongyang, while South Korea demanded his immediate return.
As Japan increases its efforts to crack down on illegal foreigners residing within the country, the number of
Chinese citizens deported back to the port of Shanghai has significantly increased. China's border inspection authority revealed recently that as of mid-November, 34 Chinese nationals were deported this year, a 55% increase over 2011. Lu Jun, a press officer that oversees inspection at the Shanghai Port, says Japan is looking for those living or working illegally in the country.
Last Sunday, the Ginza shopping district in Tokyo was occupied not only by the usual shoppers and vendors but also by a group of around 100 foreigners who were there for a different purpose. These people held a
rally to request the government to grant them special residency permits as they have overstayed their visas.
After serving 15 years in prison in Japan for a murder he didn't commit,
Govinda Prasad Mainali of Nepal was finally acquitted and found not-guilty by the Tokyo High Court on Wednesday. Mainali was accused of murdering a 39 year old Japanese woman in March 1997, but maintained he was innocent from the beginning. During a 30-minute "retrial" last week,
public prosecutors finally conceded, admitting there was evidence a third-party committed the crime, and that the 46 year old Nepali man was not guilty.
Govinda Prasad Mainali, 45, could finally be declared innocent after an acquittal for the murder of a Japanese woman in Tokyo in 1997. After the Tokyo High Court granted Mainali a retrial in June
he was quickly deported to his home in Kathmandu, Nepal. After completing a new DNA test that showed evidence of someone other than Mainali being with the victim, prosecutors are expected to seek acquittal.
National
Adam Westlake on Oct 8 2012
A Thai woman who was arrested in Japan in relation to an expired visa was discovered to have connections with human trafficking and subsequently deported to
Thailand to face prosecution. After leaving Japan on Friday, 31 year old Malee Laoyang was arrested upon her arrival in Thailand. The Royal Thai Police say Malee, who used to be married to a Japanese man, has been charged with coercing young women in prostitution in both Japan and Thailand, and is believed to have been part of a human-trafficking racket in Japan's Kanto region.
After the landing of a group of Hong Kong activists on
a set of disputed islands yesterday, the responses from the Chinese and Japanese government continue to develop. The Japan Coast Guard and Okinawa police were present at what they call the
Senkaku Islands, ready to detain and arrest the 14 members who set sail from Hong Kong in a fishing boat
earlier this week. Officials with Japanese immigration have stated that they are now considering whether to hold and charge the group, or simply deport them, in order to avoid further escalation in the feud.
In the ongoing case against Nepal's
Govinda Prasad Mainali and the recent decision to award him a retrial after 15 years in prison, the Tokyo High Prosecutor's Office lost the petition to call off the court's reopening. However they have said they will not push on and appeal to the Japanese Supreme Court, it was learned on Thursday. They're not withdrawing
their prosecution against Mainali of course, as they still maintain he is guilty of murder despite the strong evidence otherwise, the office is just saying that it will
no longer try to put a stop to the retrial itself.
Govinda Prasad Mainali, a Nepalese man who, after roughly 15 years in prison, was finally granted a retrial in a 1997 murder case for which he continually pleaded innocent. He was released while the prosecution's appeals were pending, and as the court determined it
wasn't necessary that Mainali remain in Japan for the retrial process, he was deported last week,
arriving at his home in Kathmandu, Nepal on Sunday. Even if the court reversed its decision on the retrial, or if, for some reason, the retrial still found him guilty, it is very unlikely that Mainali would
return to Japan.
Features National
Adam Westlake on Jun 18 2012
After 15 years in Japanese prison, 45 year old Govinda Prasad Mainali
returned to his home country of Nepal for the first time in 18 years. Mainali was released from prison on June 7th after new DNA evidence proved that he could not have been present at the time of the murder of a 39 year old Japanese woman in 1997, and while he wasn't declared innocent of the crime, he was
deported from Japan on Friday while proceedings begin for a retrial. After returning to Nepal and speaking with reporters, however, he stated that he was mistreated by Japanese prison authorities.
