Report of Mr.Tanaka's Case by UZAKI Kiyomi
17
99/6/21
Mr. KODAMA Shogo's Demand For Retrial Was Rejected
Mr. KODAMA Shogo was denied a retrial.
On the morning of this 21st day of June, the court decision was delivered in Courtroom 707, the District Court of Criminal Cases of Bangkok to reject the demand from Mr. KODAMA Shogo for a retrial. He was also denied a "petition for prolongation of the period for filing an appeal" against imprisonment for two years and a half which had been ordered in the summary trial at the District Court of Chon Buri. Now Mr. KODAMA's last resort is to make an appeal of dissatisfaction to the Supreme Court over the high court decision to reject his "petition for prolonging the period," but this does not seem to work out, either.
Mr. KODAMA, with rather a tense look, said to me, "They made things going quite unfair against me. What a shame that I was completely taken in! But now I want to say thank-you from the bottom of my heart to every one of my friends who have been supporting me and TANAKA. I'm supposed to go through this unreasonable imprisonment in five months. As I have been through a lot of difficulties so far, I don't care the remaining five months. I will get out of this place in high spirits, and work as hard again." He kept on to say in the end, "I have no interest in my trial any more, but I'm quite concerned about TANAKA. I'm always thinking about the court decision for him. When he is found innocent and released, I'm sure I am happier for him than for myself." After that, Mr. KODAMA closed his mouth tight.
Receiving the news that Mr. KODAMA's demand for a retrial was rejected, a number of journalists stationed in Thailand came to me for inquiry. They all asked me how this decision on Mr. KODAMA's demand would affect the court decision made two days later on TANAKA's counterfeit-US-bill case.
According to the various facts I collected, the above question is not to the point for several reasons.
The high court decision had already been made on April 5, and it is today that the decision was delivered to Mr. KODAMA himself. Therefore, it is not true that, because the day is drawing near to read out the court decision on TANAKA's case, the decision on Mr. KODAMA's demand was delivered today with a certain intention.
大幅に中略(sorry, very much omitted)
Mr. KODAMA will come out of jail in November 19 this year. I am looking forward to the day when I can give the heartiest and warmest welcome to him together with very considerate people, though I do not want to give up his retrial. So I am now trying to change my way of thinking and to be prepared for the moment to welcome Mr. KODAMA.
