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apfseditor 
The 11th hearing of the Suraj Case State Compensation Lawsuit was held from 10:00 to 17:00 on Friday, September 13, 2013. This time, the Immigration Bureau officials who accompanied the deportation were questioned. By around 9:15, people were already lining up to get spectator tickets, and as the capacity of the spectator seats was exceeded, spectators were chosen by lottery.
During the questioning of the five immigration officials, the defense team pointed out the inconsistencies between what each official said immediately after the incident and their current claims. Perhaps because they were aware of the positional asphyxiation that we were claiming, the immigration officials seemed to be very careful in their testimony about "bending forward" (perjury?).
What I also felt from the responses of all the staff was that at the time of the incident, there was absolutely no consideration shown to Mr. Suraj, the person being deported.
"It was the second deportation (the first one had failed), so we didn't want to fail," said an official (perhaps the success of the deportation was the top priority, with lives coming second?).
An official said, "We thought we needed to be careful because there had been previous incidents of Africans becoming violent during deportations." (Perhaps it was this prejudice against Africans that led to Suraj's rough treatment and subsequent death.)
"We were unable to check Suraj's pulse when he became unresponsive, but we thought he was acting so we did not take any emergency measures on board," said an official (there is no way he could stop his pulse if he was acting).
It can be said that all these inconsiderations led to Suraj's death.
The reality of deportation that has come to light this time is not limited to Suraj's forced deportation, but also occurs in other deportations. If the death of Suraj is not used as an opportunity to change the reality of deportations, we will miss an opportunity to reconsider the current inhumane deportation practices. I felt that this lawsuit for state compensation is extremely significant in that sense.
The next hearing will be on Wednesday, October 23, 2013.The doctor who examined Suraj's heart and others are being questioned.The next session will also start at 10am and tickets will be distributed.Any changes to the schedule will be posted on the APFS website. Thank you for your cooperation in attending the next meeting.