Nov.1 Rally succeeded!
Eight Years after the Arrest – We Will Fight on with JRU7

On 1 November, the East Japan Railway Workers’ Union (JREU), together with the Support Association of JRU7, held the rally to win the case of JR Urawa Case. More than 1,500 people including Diet members came to join the rally. Our struggle marks 8 years since the seven union members were arrested today in 2002. We have already submitted the necessary documents, and now await a hearing by the Supreme Court. In Japan, 99% of final appeals are dismissed. We are now going on our action to request the Court to conduct a trial and declare the JRU7 not guilty. We’d like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you for giving us your warm messages on the special day.

The venue was the same one as the one where we, quivering with rage, had the first protest rally 8 years ago. The union officers, the representative of the Support Association and many guests gave us impressive addresses. Each member of the JRU7 declared his determination to fight on.

The purpose of this rally was to bring pressure on the Supreme Court of Japan to hold oral proceedings. There we must win acquittal and reinstatement of JRU7. Another purpose was to put a brake on the prosecution in order to eliminate all the false accusation in Japan. For example, recently in Japan, it was exposed that the prosecutors cooked up the postal corruption scandal. The way to “fabricate the case” became universally known.

We have shared our anger, resentment and tears with JRU7 in these 8 years, and also learned many people are suffering from a false accusation and fighting against it. We strongly pledge again that we shouldn’t allow further infringement of human rights by the state power. And we cannot allow any violation of labor rights, especially the right to organize.

We are determined to strengthen solidarity among people and keep on fighting in order to ensure the society with peace and democracy. For this goal, we will fight to win the case of JRU7!