Petition to not appeal the Suraj Incident State Compensation Lawsuit (submitted on 3/28)

【notice】
On Friday, March 28th, 1,354 signatures were submitted to the Ministry of Justice.
Thank you all for your cooperation.

On March 22, 2010, a Ghanaian man, ABUBAKAR AWUDU SURAJ (hereinafter referred to as Suraj), died during government-sponsored deportation. The incident occurred when immigration officials accompanying him on the deportation forcefully restrained him using foot cuffs, towels, and personal cable ties, which are not permitted by the regulations. It has been almost four years since Suraj passed away.

On Wednesday, March 19, 2014, the district court handed down its ruling on the Suraj case lawsuit for state compensation. The court ruled that the defendant (the state) must pay approximately 2.5 million yen to each of the plaintiffs (Suraaj's wife and biological mother).

Regarding the cause of death, the court first found that there was a causal relationship between the actions of the immigration officials and Suraj's cause of death, and acknowledged that the immigration officials' restraining actions caused him to have difficulty breathing, resulting in "death by suffocation."

Next, regarding the illegality of the immigration bureau's actions, even though Suraj's resistance had subsided, the immigration officials continued to force him into a dangerous leaning forward position. The court ruled that such coercive actions went beyond what was necessary and appropriate and therefore were "illegal."
This ruling is a groundbreaking decision as it directly rejects the government's claims.

On the other hand, the ruling also cited Mr. Suraj's actions and words that hinted at suicide, and stated that these actions "induced the illegal act of restraint." Neither Mr. Suraj's wife nor support groups are convinced of this point.
However, given the great significance of this ruling, Suraj's wife and the support group APFS have decided to respect the ruling.

Meanwhile, the government (Ministry of Justice Immigration Bureau) has commented to media outlets that it will "consider future responses after thoroughly reviewing the contents of the ruling." There is a strong possibility that the government will appeal the ruling.

In order for the government to take this ruling seriously and not appeal, we need your help now more than ever. Please help us by signing the petition to not appeal. We also ask that you appeal to your family, friends, and other people around you.
The appeal period is set to be within two weeks of the ruling. We need to collect signatures as soon as possible and submit them to the government. Please send us your signatures as soon as possible.

★You can download the signature form below.
Please send your signature sheet so that it arrives at the address specified by 12:00 on Friday, March 28th.
If you cannot make the postal delivery in time, please use FAX (03-3579-0197).
Japanese version
English version

★Signatures are also being collected on the electronic petition site "change.org."
Please visit the website at the URL below and sign the petition.
The deadline for this is also Friday, March 28th at 12:00.
Please give your final shout out to your friend.
http://goo.gl/iPuX9V