A high court has ordered the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to pay the equivalent of 250,000 dollars in damages to the family of a Nepalese man who died after being physically restrained in police custody in 2017.
The man, who was 39 at the time, was arrested on suspicion of possessing someone else’s credit card. He lost consciousness while being questioned at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, and later died at a hospital.
The man was initially detained at Shinjuku Police Station. While he was held there, he had his hands and feet restrained with a belt-type handcuff and rope for a long period of time.
The man’s wife claimed that his handling by the police and the prosecutors was inappropriate, and sought some 60 million yen, or about 390,000 dollars, in damages.
In 2023, the Tokyo District Court did not find the method of restraint illegal, but ordered the metropolitan government to pay about 6,000 dollars for failing to give the man proper medical treatment. Both sides appealed.
At the Tokyo High Court on Wednesday, the presiding judge pointed out that four personnel re-handcuffed and re-bound the man four times, and restrained him with unnecessary strength for nearly two hours, severely hindering his blood circulation. She acknowledged that the physical restraint led to the man’s death.
The judge ordered the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to pay the man’s family some 39 million yen, or about 250,000 dollars, a significant increase from the amount of compensation the lower court had ordered.
AloJapan.com