A Nepalese migrant worker who served 15 years in a Japanese jail for a high-profile murder he did not commit told Saturday of his mistreatment at the hands of the country's prison system. Govinda Prasad Mainali, 45, who was found guilty of killing a 39-year-old Japanese woman in 1997, was released on June 7 after DNA tests confirmed he could not have committed the crime.
"I was treated very badly inside the jail. They didn't allow me to meet my family. They used abusive language. The clothes they gave me were of poor quality," said Mainali, who was flanked by his wife and mother.
Human rights activists have claimed that Mainali was tortured in prison, although he was unwilling to go into the details of his incarceration.
"The final verdict on this case is yet to come out. Therefore, I don't want to talk about it in detail," he told a press conference in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.
The case generated lurid headlines in Japan's tabloid press, which said the victim, a Tokyo Electric Power Company employee, was leading a double life as a businesswoman by day and prostitute at night.
Mainali was acquitted in April 2000 but remained in prison pending an appeal by prosecutors, who maintained he had robbed and murdered the victim because he was short of cash.
"I would like to express my gratitude to all people and institutions that helped during my battle for justice," said Mainali, who had travelled to Japan in 1994 to find work in the restaurant industry.
"I am happy that I have finally been able to meet my family and share sorrows and joys with them. Having arrived after a stressful routine, I am pleased to rest in my homeland and I'm happier than you would have thought," he added.
Gopal Krishna Siwakoti, a Nepalese human rights activist, criticised the Japanese justice and prison systems, which he said had mistreated Mainali.
"The prosecutors falsely framed charges against him. He was subjected to torture, both physical and mental, and was forced into solitary confinement," he said.
Describing the case as the "trial of the century in terms of migrant workers", Siwakoti said Mainali's case showed that a "xenophobic attitude was entrenched in Japanese judicial system".
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