Spaniard denies being drug smuggler; lay judges hand him 10 years

CHIBA (Kyodo) A Spanish man was sentenced to 10 years and fined ¥5 million in a lay judge trial Friday for smuggling illegal stimulants into Japan in May. He had pleaded innocent.

Orquin Mompo Fernando, 38, was the second defendant to claim innocence in a lay judge trial since the system was introduced in Japan in May. The first lay judge trial was held in August. No one has been acquitted so far, although lay judges have handed down suspended sentences. In two recent high-profile stimulants-use trials, not involving lay judges, the accused received suspended terms.

The Chiba District Court ruled that Fernando smuggled some 1.2 kg of illegal stimulants into Narita International Airport on May 4 for the purpose of making money.

In handing down the sentence, presiding Judge Tsutomu Tochigi said the defendant's testimony was "not trustworthy" and thus the sentence was heavier than usual, reflecting the judiciary's "determination to crack down on the smuggling of stimulants."

The court said Fernando smuggled the stimulants concealed in the soles of the leather shoes he was wearing and in two pairs of sandals in his suitcase when he arrived at the airport in Chiba Prefecture from South Africa via Hong Kong.

He claimed he did not know the drugs were concealed in his shoes and sandals.

Prosecutors had sought a 12-year prison term and ¥7 million fine.

YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) A 21-year-old man on probation after receiving a suspended prison term for arson has flown the coop, an apparent first for a former defendant in a lay judge trial, legal sources said Thursday.

Under the newly introduced lay judge system, several defendants were sentenced to suspended prison terms and have been put on probation, as citizen judges, together with their professional counterparts, seek to rehabilitate offenders in the community.

The disappearance of the man may affect the decisions of citizen judges in upcoming trials. He was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years, for setting fire to an umbrella near a company dormitory in Kawasaki in February.

The man vanished shortly after the verdict was handed down at the Yokohama District Court on Oct. 8, although he was supposed to meet with a probation officer for advice on job hunting and residency, according to the sources.

It is likely the suspended sentence will be nullified unless he contacts his probation officer soon.

The defendant was sentenced to probation because the court determined he did not understand that the fire could have spread to the dormitory, and that his acquaintances would support his rehabilitation.