*CHINESE follows/中文排在最下面*

Introduction

Imagine, you live in a country where you do not speak their language. 

One day, you are attacked by a stranger for no reasons other than your race and ethnicity. 

Even though you want to look for help from the  police, the police instead of protecting you, improperly treated and questioned you and your kid due to your race.

How would you feel living in such a country?

We are the plaintiff attorneys for the police discriminatory treatment of foreigner A and her young daughter. A did not start this litigation merely for herself, but for the Japanese society as a whole, where foreign nationals can live in Japan without fear of discrimination. 

Summary

1. A and her daughter were physically and verbally assaulted based on their race in the park.

In June 2021, A visited a nearby park with her 3-year-old daughter. When A was watching her daughter playing on the sandbox and the slide, suddenly a male stranger came out loudly and tried to push her daughter. When A rushed to her daughter, the man shouted "foreigner" and "Show your foreigner residential card" and posed to use violence against them. A escaped from the scene with her daughter, but the man chased after them. According to the person who helped A and her daughter on the spot, the male stranger repeatedly shouted discriminatory words against foreigners, such as "foreigners are not worth living" and "garbage".

The male stranger also said that A’s daughter kicked his son, but A was watching her daughter and she is sure that is not true.

The male stranger called the police, but even after the police rushed in, he continued his discriminatory words and behavior and took an insulting attitude against foreigners.

2. The police officers came, but instead of stopping the discriminatory behaviors, they affirmed that male stranger   is correct.

When the police rushed to the scene, A thought that she finally got the help. However, none of the police officers disciplined the discriminatory behavior. On the contrary, one of the police officers, after listening to the male stranger's allegation, asked rudely to A’s 3-year-old daughter that "You must have kicked" and "Do not pretend that you can’t speak Japanese" in such an insulting way. 

3. Police officers took A and her daughter to the police station and questioned her daughter alone.

The police officers took A and others in a police vehicle to the police station without giving A a chance to refuse. Then, in a small room, with several police officers constantly watching, the police officers repeatedly demanded A to admit that what the male stranger alleged is true. The interrogation lasted  for about three hours.

A said she wanted to go home many times and told the police so, but the police officers did not allow them to go home. Moreover,  the police officers didn't even allow her to go to the bathroom or change her daughter's diapers.

Further, regardless that A’s daughter is merely 3 years old, the police officers told A to leave her daughter. Several police officers surrounded and questioned A’s daughter alone in a locked room. The crying sound of A’s daughter out of sheer fear never stopped. 

In the end, the accident in the park and the police questioning make A and her daughter suffered inhumane treatment for about 4 hours and 30 minutes.

4. Police officers disclosed A's personal information to the male stranger without A's consent.

After questioning A and her daughter, the police officers asked A to consent to give A's phone number to the male stranger who insulted them in the park.

A refused because she was so scared of the man who was hostile to them. Yet, the police officers said that they will not be allowed to go back home unless A consents. Moreover, the police officers disclosed not only A’s phone number, but also her name and home address without A’s consent.

5. The broken peaceful  life of A and her daughter

Both A and her daughter were deeply hurt by the treatment at the police station. In particular, my daughter became afraid of adult men, people in uniforms, and police boxes, and began to show symptoms such as insomnia and hyperventilation when falling asleep. The doctor diagnosed the daughter with "possibility of post-traumatic stress disorder". The daughter still goes to the hospital regularly.

In addition, the man who made racist behavior learned A’s address from the police officer, so A is worried every day when a man would come to her house and harm her and her daughter.

The peaceful life of A and her daughter was robbed by the actions of the police officers.

Words from the Plaintiff

I want to create a society where anyone can live with peace of mind regardless of race or country of origin.

Currently, there are less than 3 million foreigners living in Japan. As members of the same society, we respect each other and want to realize a society where anyone can live with peace of mind regardless of race or country of origin.

However, there is no end to discriminatory and aggressive behavior based on prejudice against foreigners, including on the Internet.

Racism by police officers should not allowed

Police officers are authorized by law with very important policing enforcement capacity, and it is very important that such authority is executed rightly. However, discriminatory police enforcement against foreigner, like what happened to A and her daughter in this case, is not rare in Japan. There are times when police stop-and-frisk or search possessions of foreigners without reason. 

Many foreigners think that even if they suffer such improper treatment or damage, they have no choice but to "cry and fall asleep". This is because even if the foreigners are innocent, once they are arrested and charged with crimes, they will lose status of residence and the right to live in Japan. In general, it is not easy for foreigners to speak out against the police officers.

If the police, a public institution, tolerates discrimination and takes measures to support it, it will give the impression that discriminatory behavior will not be blamed, and it will have the adverse effect of further promoting discrimination. 

We, the plaintiff attorney team,  on September 21, 2021, based on the State Redress Act, filed a case with the Tokyo District Court, claiming damages against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which has jurisdiction over the police station, to clarify that the police officers' response was wrong and to hold them legally liable, so as to reaffirm the stance that discrimination against foreigners in Japan should not be allowed, and to prevent the growth of disciminatory behavior in Japanese society.

Use of funds

In addition to legal fees, this case is expected to incur many other costs. Specifically, the cost includes:

　・ litigation fee (stamp fee)
　・ Interpretation / translation costs
　・ Costs for preparing opinions from researchers and experts
　・ Others (communication cost, court record copy cost, transportation fee, etc.)

※ Thanks to the supporters to our case, we reached our goal of 1,000,000 yen in merely 5 days after the crowdfunding started. We received so many messages and have translated the Japanese ones into English for A (plaintiff). So much thanks for the support.

From now, the litigation process will begin. The expert opinions will be filed to support the argument on racial discriminations. One expert opinion usually costs about a few hundred thousand yen, and we plan to submit multiple opinions. Further, the legal issues in this case are much more frequently discussed in foreign-language legal references, so we have to hire expert translators for professional and reliable translations, which will be very expensive. Also, our initial goal does not count the attorney fees, but we would like to have the attorneys continue working on this case without heavy economic burden. In consideration of all these factors, we decided to set our next goal as 2,000,000 yen, and will prove what we will do as described above. 

Thank you again for your support!

-Japanese legal system is too costly for foreigners-

Especially in this case, there is a high possibility that the interpretation and translation costs will be high.

In Japan, the interpreter's fee for a court interpreter in civil cases must be paid by the plaintiff in the beginning (in the case of a winning case, the defendant might be responsible for the court costs). There is no clear standard for court interpreter fees (Article 26 of the Law Concerning Civil Procedure Costs, etc. states that "(omitted) the amount of interpreter fees, fees and expenses to be paid (omitted) is deemed appropriate by the court. It is stipulated only on a case-by-case basis, but it can cost hundreds of thousands of yen. In particular, in this case, A's native language interpreter is few and can be more expensive than usual.

In addition, when submitting evidence in a foreign language, all parties are required to translate and submit it at their own expense.

In this way, the civil litigation system in Japan is a heavy burden and a high hurdle for foreigners who are not native speakers of Japanese, which is also a cause of foreigners' hesitation in filing litigations to protect their rights.

We appreciate your support.

[Attorney Contact Information]

2 floor VORT Hanzomon, 2-12-1 Kouji-machi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Integral Law Office
Attorney at Law in Japan Nishiyama Atsuko
Phone number: 03-3288-5216

***

“反对种族歧视”诉讼 ～警方不合理的盘查导致母子的个人情报泄露～

一名男子对外国妇女和她三岁的女儿进行了虚假举报，并说了 "滚回你的国家去 "等带有种族歧视的言论。 这对母女在警察局被强迫了几个小时不得不承认这名男子的说法，而且母女的的住址和其他个人信息也在未经同意的情况下通过警察透露给了这名男子。

简介

如果你在语言不通的异国他乡生活，在街上遭到陌生人带有种族歧视的言论后向警察求助，警察非但不站在你这边，反而是对你和你年幼的孩子采取种族歧视的行为时，你会作何感想？我们是遭到警察的种族歧视对待的A女士及其女儿的代理律师。

A女士决定向法院提起诉讼，这不仅是为了她自己，也是为了建立一个让所有在日生活的外国人都能安居乐业的社会。

事件概要

1.A女士和她的女儿在公园遭到种族歧视的言论以及攻击

 今年 6 月，A 女士带着她三岁的女儿去家附近的公园玩耍。在A女士看见女儿在沙坑和滑梯上玩耍时，突然一名陌生男子大喊大叫，并试图推开A女士的女儿。当A女士急忙冲到女儿身边时，男子用日语对A女士说了“外国人”“把在留卡拿出来”等具有差别性的言语，并试图攻击A女士。

虽然A女士带着女儿逃离了现场，但该男子一直追赶着A女士母女。

据前来帮助A女士的人说，该男子多次大声说出针对外国人的种族歧视言论，如 “外国人不配活着 "和 "垃圾"等。而且这名男子还说A女士的女儿踢了他的儿子，但在女儿玩耍时A女士一直在旁边看着，女儿根本没有踢过该男子的儿子。

这名男子报了警，并在警察到来后继续以歧视的口吻和行为对待A女士。

2 .警察来后并没有对男子的言行进行调查，反而把他说的所有事情认为事实

当警察赶到现场时，A 女士觉得终于有人来救她，松了一口气。

然而，到达现场的警察没有一个人警告男子他的歧视行为不对。 反而，其中一名警察根据男子的单方面的指控，对A女士的三岁的女儿采取了具有侮辱性的态度，并且用粗暴的日语对女儿说 “你肯定是踢了吧” “你真的不会说日语吗?”等的话。

3 警察将A女士和她的女儿带到警察局，对女儿一个人进行询问

警察根本没有给A女士等人拒绝的机会，就让她们坐上警车，并把她们带到了警察局。 然后，在一个小房间，几名警察始终在场的情况下，进行了长达3小时的询问。在询问中，警方单方面要求A女士等人承认男子说的事情。

A女士多次请求让她回家，但是警官不允许她回家。 更加过分的是，当她想上卫生间和给女儿换尿布，警官也不允许她这样做。

当时A女士的女儿只有三岁，警察却让A女士离开房间，留下女儿一人。在关上的门的小房子里，几名警察将三岁的女儿团团围住，单独对她进行询问。 A女士的女儿吓得大哭起来。

从在公园受到陌生男子的种族歧视行为开始算起的话，A女士和她的女儿总共遭受了大约4个半小时的非人待遇。

4.警察在未经 A 女士同意的情况下，向男子提供了A女士的个人信息

长达3小时的询问后，警察要求A女士把她的电话号码交给在公园里对A女士和她的孩子说了种族歧视的话的男子。

A女士对该男子有强烈的恐惧感所以拒绝了警察的要求。但警察强迫A女士，如果她不同意把电话号码交给男子的话就不让她回家。直到最后A女士都没有同意，但警察不仅给了这名男子电话号码，还告诉了他A女士的姓名和地址。

5 .A女士和女儿的平静生活被剥夺了

A女士和她的女儿都因为在警察局的遭遇留下了深深的创伤。特别是她的女儿，变得十分害怕成年男子、或者是穿制服的人和警察局，而且还开始出现失眠和入睡时喘不过气等症状。医生诊断A女士的女儿疑似患有“创伤后应激障碍”，导致A女士不得不定期带女儿去医院检查。

此外，因为警察把A女士的电话号码和住址等提供给了在公园里对女士进行种族歧视的言论和行为的男子，所以A女士每天都在担心男子会不会到她家伤害她。

警察的行为夺走了 A 女士和女儿平静的生活。

诉讼的目的

我们的目标是创造一个无论种族国籍，所有的人都能平等安全生活的社会

目前，有 300 万外国人在日本生活。我们希望实现一个，在同一个社会生活的所有的市民都互相尊重，不管是外国人还是日本人，无关种族和国籍的不同、人人都能和平共处的社会。

然而，从网络上的歧视言语开始，对外国人偏见的歧视性和攻击性语言和行为却从未停止过。

绝不容忍警察的种族歧视行为

警察有着非常强大的权力，例如逮捕市民的权力等。所以对于警察来说正确行使其权力是非常重要的事。 然而，外国人和有外国血统的人，如A女士和他的女儿，经常会受到警察的不合理的盘问或者被搜查随身物品。这些警察的行为都超出了法律授权的范围。

许多外国人认为，如果遭受这种待遇，他们只能 "忍气吞声？"。 这是因为，即使是被诬告，一旦被逮捕并定罪，他们就会失去在留资格，被剥夺在日本生活的权利。 所以对于外国人来说，就算受到警察的不合理的盘查，他们也不敢轻易质疑其行为。

此外，如果警察以其官方身份对市民的带有歧视性的语言和行为，不但不管制反而默许，这样不但会让其他人也会认为这些行为并不是错误的事情，甚至会助长种族歧视的行为。

为了恢复 A 女士和她女儿的权利，同时明确表示我们决不容忍歧视外国人的立场，并制止种族歧视的增加，律师团根据《国家赔偿法》，于 2021 年 9 月 21 日向东京地方法院提起诉讼，控告对警察局有管辖权的东京都政府，以澄清询问A女士的警察的错误做法，并要求他们对自己的行为承担法律责任。

资金的用途

除了律师的法律费用以外，还会产生许多的其他费用。资金的用途如下：

　・法院诉讼费用（印花税）　
　・口译和笔译费　
　・研究人员和专家编写书面意见的费用　
　・其他（通信费、法庭记录的复印费、交通费等）

※后记

我们收到了很多人的捐款，在公开后的五天内就达到了最初的100 万日元目标。并且， 我们还收到了许多支持我们的留言。 在此我们衷心感谢大家的支持。 虽然审判还没有开始，但我们准备提交几份关于种族歧视问题的国内专家的意见书（一封意见书的费用是几十万日元）。而且我们还准备提交一些在种族歧视的问题上比日本有更加深入研究的国外文献的译文（由于种族歧视是一个专业领域，所以在某些情况下我们可能会要求专家翻译，而不是一般的翻译公司)。再加上，持续开展活动我们也需要许多的法律费用，100万日元不足以支付所有费用。如果大家可以继续支持我们，就能够开展以上的活动。因此，我们的下一个目标是再筹集 200 万日元。如果您能给予支持，我们将不胜感激。

〜日本的法院系统对外国人的负担很大〜

在本案中，口译和笔译的费用可能会特别高。在日本的民事法庭上，法庭的口译员的费用必须由原告支付（但如果案件胜诉，口译员的费用有可能由被告支付）。关于法庭口译员的费用并没有明确的标准（《民事诉讼费用法》第 26 条规定：“（略）需要支付的（略）口译员费用、报酬和开支的金额应为法院认为合理的金额。”关于口译员费用的规定只有这一个）。事件不同的话需要的费用也会不同，但口译员的费用可达几十万日元。 尤其是原告 A 女士的母语口译员很少，费用可能会比一般情况下更高。

此外，在提交包含外语的证据时，所有证据都必须翻译后提交，而且费用需由当事人承担。因此，日本的民事诉讼制度对于母语不是日语的外国人的负担非常大，这也是外国人迟迟不愿提起诉讼的原因之一。

我们再次衷心希望可以得到大家的支持，并感谢您的关心和支持。

【律师团的联络方式】

〒１０２－００８３
東京都千代田区麹町２－１２－１VORT半蔵門２階
インテグラル法律事務所
律师 西山温子
电话号码：０３－３２８８－５２１６