Three years ago, a Vietnamese defendant who was a technical intern trainee in Ashikita Town, Kumamoto Prefecture, was accused of abandoning stillborn twin babies at his home and pleaded not guilty, and the Supreme Court will hand down the verdict on the 3th. Since the pleadings necessary to change the verdict are open, the convictions of the first and second trials may be reviewed.
Vietnamese defendant Le Thi Thuy Linh (24) is accused of abandoning the corpse for leaving the bodies in a cardboard box for more than a day after stillborn twin babies at his home in Ashikita Town in November 2020 when he was a technical intern trainee.
At issue is whether the former intern's actions constitute illegal abandonment, and the prosecution argues that the body was concealed to conceal the fact of pregnancy and childbirth, which offended general religious sentiment and constituted abandonment.
On the other hand, the former trainee pleaded not guilty, saying, "It was a careful enshrinement with personal items while not knowing what to do in a distant foreign land, and it was not abandoned."
It has been pointed out that the background of the incident is the fact that foreign technical interns are forced to give birth in isolation for fear of being forced to return to their home countries or retire, and more than 11,1 signatures have been signed calling for the acquittal of former interns.
The Supreme Court's ruling is due to be handed down on the afternoon of the 9th, and the convictions of the first and second trials may be reviewed as the arguments necessary to change the verdict are open.
The points of contention are:
The biggest point of contention is whether the actions taken by a former technical intern trainee after a stillbirth constitutes a crime of abandonment of a corpse.
The crime of abandonment of a corpse is established when a body is hidden or left unattended in a way that harms the feelings of respect for the dead and religious feelings held by ordinary people.
The former trainee wrapped the bodies of the twin babies in a towel, placed them in a cardboard box with their names, dates of birth, and a letter that read, "Rest in peace in heaven," and then placed them in another white box with tape and placed on a shelf.
The next day, I told the doctor at the hospital that I had given a stillbirth, and it took about 2 hours for the situation to become clear.
The Kumamoto District Court in the first instance and the Fukuoka High Court in the second trial both ruled that the crime of abandonment of a corpse was established for acts that offended religious feelings, and the second trial sentenced them to three months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, which was lighter than the first trial.
In arguments held at the Supreme Court last month, the former intern reaffirmed his innocence, arguing that the box was doubled so that his child would not be cold, that he taped it so that it would not rot in contact with the outside air, and that polite acts would not make it difficult to find the body or prevent the funeral from taking place.
Regarding the judgment of the first and second trials that found the mother, who was found guilty, he said, "The punishment further isolates the mother, who should have been protected by welfare."
On the other hand, the prosecution said, "It is easy to admit that the body was hidden from the act of sealing it in cardboard, and the former intern's act is far from preparing for a funeral, as he did not reveal the fact of pregnancy or stillbirth and asked for help. It is abandonment because it offends the general feeling of respect for the dead."