We Condemn the Unfair Judgment on
the gGamagori Station Caseh!

21 April, 2009

  On 21 April Nagoya District Court handed down a prison sentence of 6 months suspended for 2 years to Brother Kato who was indicted over the alleged gGamagori Station Case.h Although the presiding judge fully accepted prosecutorsf allegation, she couldnft bear concrete evidence of Mr. Katofs gcrimeh, using a string of unconfident words such as gI guessch and gIt seems to bech.

  All JRU members condemn this unfair judgment in full of anger.
From the very beginning, there is no criminal fact that our Brother gstoleh the gLabor Management Instruction Manual (so-called classified document)h which the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tokai) has insisted. That was clarified at his trial that totaled 8 times, and at the same time his indictment without arrest tells us a reality. The Company and the prosecutors claimed that the 31-sheet document was the gManualh which our Brother had stolen, and detected his fingerprints. They, however, could not adduce the prints and establish his alleged gattempth to steal the document all the way.

  Though Nagoya District Court recognized the fact, it convicted Mr. Kato based on the circumstantial evidence.

  Through the trial we have brought out that the alleged act of larceny is groundless and was a fabricated story. We have also clarified that JR Tokai, despite no tangible evidence, terminated our Brother unjustly based on its political intention of crushing the Central Japan Railway Workersf Union. We know the Case itself is political suppression made up in full coordination with the security police and the JR Tokai. It can be said that the court decided to accept so-called gkokusakuh (national policy) and follow it.

  Currently, workersf life and even their existence is threatened by ongoing financial crisis caused by the neo-liberal policy. We know gkokusakuh (national policy) is involved in political oppression of Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa conducted by Tokyo District Special Investigators who have been ordered by the bureaucrats to tarnish the DPJ. Under political and economic crisis, political parties, labor unions and democratic groups are always suppressed, if they act against statefs intention. That goes for JRU, too.

  Brother Kato immediately appealed, stating he was determined to fight on in order to uncover the truth and win acquittal. JRU ensures its full support for him. We will use vexation and anger against the court decision as a springboard to try harder. This is our declaration to fight for the total victory in this gGamagori Station Caseh as well as in a legal action which is scheduled to deliver judgment in May. In addition we will exert every possible effort through to completion to win another cooked-up case, gJR Urawa Electric Train Depot Caseh. Tokyo High Court will render a judgment to JRU7 on 5 June. In order to fulfill the labor unionfs social responsibilities, we will fight on in solidarity with all our fellow workers under the slogan of gResistance and Humanismh.