Panel Disputes Prosecutor Decision over Detainee's Death

Nagoya, Dec. 26 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese prosecution inquest panel has labeled a decision by public prosecutors not to indict 13 immigration officials over the death in March 2021 of Sri Lankan detainee Wishma Sandamali in the central city of Nagoya as unjust.

The verdict was delivered on Wednesday by the Nagoya No. 1 committee for the inquest of prosecution, a panel of citizens.

The 13 immigration officials at the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau had faced criminal complaints over suspicions including murder over the death of the 33-year-old Sri Lankan woman.

Following the panel's ruling, the Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office will reinvestigate the case.

While saying that the cause of Wishma's death cannot be clearly determined, the panel expressed doubt in the prosecutors' decision not to indict the 13 officials based on the grounds that the cause of her death was not identified.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]