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apfseditor 
The 9th hearing of the Suraj Case State Compensation Lawsuit was held on Monday, May 13th from 15:30 in Tokyo District Court, Courtroom 706. The gallery was full, and people who could not find a seat had to wait outside.
This day, the plaintiffs (Suraj's legal team) presented their case. This time, the courtroom was open to the public, and the legal team used PowerPoint to clearly explain their arguments regarding the circumstances of Suraj's deportation, the illegality of the immigration officials' actions, and the cause of Suraj's death. After that, they aired a video of Suraj's deportation as evidence to back up their arguments.
The video that was aired only showed the core part of the incident, about 5 minutes long, in which immigration officials took Suraj from a wagon parked next to the aircraft to the plane, but Suraj was not violent at all and spoke Japanese calmly, and despite that, the immigration officials quickly handcuffed Suraj's feet as if they had planned it from the beginning, and several people picked him up and carried him onto the plane. This was far from the immigration officials' claim that they took the action because Suraj was violent.
The video was only a few minutes long, but the spectators watched with bated breath as Suraj was deported. Even though they had only heard about it, it must have been a shock to the spectators to see the reality of Suraj's deportation on video. Suraj's cousin was also attending the trial, but he could not bear to watch Suraj's final moments and left the room midway through.
After the video was aired, the presiding judge said that if they wanted a verdict within this fiscal year, they should plan the questioning as soon as possible and expedite the determination of the facts. The defendant, the state, said they wanted three months to get a doctor's opinion, but the presiding judge himself said clearly that he "cannot wait that long."
After the trial, there was a question time in a separate room about the content of the arguments. Many spectators stayed behind and asked many questions. Some opinions were presented that will be useful for future trials.
We will announce the next hearing date on our website and blog as soon as it is decided. The presence of observers is a great source of strength. We appreciate your cooperation in observing the hearing.