Pollution victim hits back—and judge excuses him

Press, 7 July 1977, Page 14

Pollution victim hits back—and judge excuses him

To the horror of Japan’s industrial polluters. a judge appears to have justified violence in certain ercumstnaces as part of the public’s anti-pollution fight. That, anyway, is their reading of the judgment by the Tokyo High Court in dismissing charges against a victim of mercury po'soning for using violence on four employees of a firm blamed for his disease. Although the issue will end up in the Supreme Court the ruling by the presiding judge. Shoji Terao, is still regarded as epochal — and with wide-

ranging repercussions that are yet unclear. The case involves Teruo Kawamoto, now 45. one of thousands of victims of the painful and often fatal affliction known as ‘‘Minamata’’ Disease. He is from Minamata. in southern Japan, where doctors in the early 1960 s began to notice a pattern of acute mercury poisoning involving hundreds of the town’s pre-

dominately fishing population. Ultimately, the blame was placed on contamination of fish and shellfish in Minamata Bay by mercury waste discharged from a factory of the giant Chisso Chemical Corporation. The result has been battles inside and outside court over the last few years by Minamata victims seeking compensation from Chisso.

The disease — which involves destruction of parts of the central nervous system — has so far resulted in 126 deaths. There are 700 victims officially recognised by the Government as qualifying for official help, and another few thousand are still awaiting this same recognition. In an attempt to force Chisso to accept its responsibilities, Minamata

victims on several occasions have besieged the company’s Tokyo headquarters. And it was here that the scuffle took place with Chisso officials which led Teruo Kawamoto to court. The Tokyo District Court found him guilty of assault and battery against four employees of the firm and fined him 50,000 yen (about $170). But the legal world, along

with Japan’s chronic polluters, was stunned when the Tokyo High Court reversed the decision in a scathing denunciation of alleged abuse of power by the public prosecutors. Presiding judge Terao said the outbreak of Minamata disease was the gravest pollution incident in Japan’s history. “It is, therefore, improper to penalise the accused for excesses in the course of

seeking direct negotiations with Chisso,” he said. The ruling also said that the misery caused by reckless discharge of industrial waste knew no parallel, and. that this should have been considered in handling Kawamoto's case. It then went on to charge the prefectural police and district public prosecutor’s office with negligence in failing

to take action against the polluter for 15 years. Kawamoto had resorted to violence against Chisso not merely out of a deeprooted personal grudge that was understandable, but also on behalf of many' other sufferers ■who had no chance to speak out. Some of the poisoning victims were also injured in the scuffles with Chisso employees, but no action was taken against

them by the prosecutors, the court pointed out. Chisso was deeply upset about the ruling. A spokesman said: “This is simply a licence to commit violence in the name of combatting pollution.” What most concerns industry' is that the Terao ruling is likely to have a decisive effect on future pollution trials and antipollution campaigns.

Legal circles are also concerned about the implications of the ruling. One worried lawyer commented: “It appears that because so-called big evils on the part of government and industry are being left ignored, the victims of such evils who commit crimes, unless grave, will go unpunished. “No-one is opposed to anti-pollution campaigns, but crimes committed in the name of such campaigns may increase as a result of this ruling and that will create major legal problems for this country.” — O.F.N.S. Copyright,