Another appeal hearing as Nick Baker's health deteriorates

2.10.15pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 21st Feb 2005

Nick Baker, a British prisoner unfairly convicted in Japan on drug smuggling charges, will have his second appeal hearing of the year on Tuesday 22nd February 2005, at the Tokyo High Court.

At this appeal hearing, Nick will be questioned by Judge Tao. Nick's mother, Iris Baker, has said that Nick is coughing up blood and that his health is getting worse. He also has three damaged vertebra, apparently caused by being made to sit cross-legged on cold floors for many hours, that have not yet been treated.

London Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford, Liberal Democrat European justice spokeswoman who has worked since 2002 in support of Nick's bid for a fair trial, said:

"The severely bad conditions in which Nick is being held are clearly affecting his health. The family are enduring this nerve-wracking process waiting for the summing-up."

The last appeal hearing in January was attended by Sabine Zanker of Fair Trials Abroad, of which Baroness Ludford is a patron.

Following the January hearing, Ms Zanker stated that the investigation period and his original trial "had been a miscarriage of justice in the making," referring to the poor quality of interpretation, the fact that Nick was made to sign documents he could not read and that he was told he would be freed if he signed.

Ms Zanker also said, however, that the conduct of the judges at the appeal hearing in January had been an improvement, and that they had seemed genuinely interested in the evidence. At the press conference, Nick's lawyer Shunji Miyake said he believed there was a 50-50 chance that Nick's original sentence would be overturned.

Sarah Ludford added: "Sabine Zanker's reports following the last appeal hearing are more encouraging. Let's hope that justice is not only done finally for Nick Baker, but that the whole Japanese system biased against the defence starts to change."

Ends

Note to editors:

Nick Baker was arrested in Tokyo in April 2002 on drug-smuggling charges. He was convicted after being interrogated for 23 days without a lawyer at the end of which he signed a document which was not translated and which he therefore didn't understand. He asserts his innocence, alleging he was duped by his travel companion into carrying the bag in which drugs were was found. The prosecution acknowledges the bag was not Nick's.

Nick's trial was marked by an absence of safeguards expected in a civilised country. Not only was there was no lawyer present for three weeks of interrogation and no taping of interviews, but also he was held for 10 months in solitary confinement for protesting his innocence. Most crucially for the defence, vital evidence was ignored, such as the activities and record of the travel companion.

In Japan, criminal cases have a 99% conviction rate. The judge who presided over the court that found Nick Baker guilty has not acquitted a single defendant in over 10 years. Prison conditions are extremely hard and are run with an elaborate system of punishments. Since his arrest nearly two years ago, Nick has not been allowed to make a phone call home; he is forced to sit cross legged on a concrete floor for endless hours and, due to the lack of heating, he suffers from frostbite to his fingers and feet.

At Nick's first appeal hearing in March 2004, the court translator was inaudible as she read through the defence argument; the judge instructed her stop before the end as the session had run out of time. In response to critical comments about this translator on the Justice for Nick Baker website, the Tokyo High Court informed Nick's legal team two days before the second hearing was due that the translator had 'resigned' and as there was no replacement, the second hearing would be cancelled.

At the appeal hearing in October 2004, the police officer who arrested Nick was cross-examined by the defence. In response to many specific questions from the defence, Officer Kawashima, who was in charge of the customs seizure and who signed the confiscation report replied "I don't remember" 46 times on the witness stand."

In December's appeal hearing it came to light that Nick is not allowed to keep his asthma inhaler in his cell, and so has to call for a guard every time he has an asthma attack, even if he can't breathe.

At that hearing, the translations at the original court hearings were also discussed, and during the course of this line of questioning that Judge Tao abruptly stopped proceedings. A Japanese professor of linguistics, who has taped all of the proceedings, has produced a report stating that the court's translation of Nick's evidence substantially deviated from what he said, and put him in a negative light.

Further details about Nick Baker's case can be found on the Fair Trials Abroad website: www.fairtrialsabroad.org. He was Fair Trials Abroad's 'Prisoner of the Month' in March 2004.