Freedom Now For Fumiaki Hoshino-Rally At SF Japan Consulate

Indybay.org

START DATE: Monday November 28
TIME: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Location Details:
50 Fremont St. at Corner of Mission St.
San Francisco, CA

Event Type: Press Conference
11/28 12:00 Noon SF Protest/Action At Japan Consulate To Demand Freedom
For Fumiaki Hoshino (corrected address)
50 Fremont St./Mission St. near Old Transbay Terminal
San Francisco

Fumiaki Hoshino is one of the longest political prisoners in the world. He
helped organize a protest in November 14, 1971 against the "Okinawa
Reversion Agreement" which helped allow the US to base nuclear weapons in
Okinawa. A policeman and women trade unionist were killed and he was
framed up and charged with the murder. He has been in jail under
repressive conditions for over 37 years. A US support committee has been
organized to demand his freedom and will be having a press conference and
picket and will demand that the Japanese government release him
immediately.

US Hoshino Defense Committee


Also please send solidarity statements to:
k_kanayama19711114 [at] yahoo.co.jp



11/27 International Solidarity Day For Japanese Fumiaki
Hoshino/Action-Solidarity Messages Requested

金山克巳です。
１１・２７星野全国集会への連帯メッセージの要請を送ります。
スティーブさんから送れるところに送信していただけないでしょうか。
よろしくお願いします。

念のために、貼り付けと添付と両方で送ります。

Dear Friends,
On November 27, we will hold a National Rally to free Fumiaki Hoshino in
Tokyo. Please send your solidarity message to the rally.
Fumiaki Hoshino is an innocent political prisoner fighting behind bars for
37 years—one of the longest detained political prisoners of the world. The
Japanese prison system is extremely oppressive: most of his friends cannot
visit him.
On November 14, 1971, Fumiaki Hoshino led one of the student contingents
of the demonstration against so-called “Okinawa Reversion Agreement”,
which in reality helped maintain the US military bases with nuclear
arsenal in Okinawa. One of the riot policemen died during the crash with
demonstrators. Hoshino was framed as “the perpetrator”; the prosecution
demanded death penalty, the courts sentenced to life imprisonment.
He is innocent. There is no physical evidence whatsoever. Only the
“depositions of the six demonstrators” made in closed interrogation rooms
in the police stations were the “evidence of guilt.” Five of the
eyewitnesses recanted, claiming police and prosecution coercion. Remaining
one refused to testify in the open courts. On top of it, the police “lost”
the videotape of the demonstration, in which Hoshino’s contingent had
participated.
Hoshino filed an application for retrial based on newly discovered photos
that clearly contradict his alleged involvement in the death of the
policeman.
A broad coalition of labor unions, other organizations and individuals are
now increasing their efforts to free Hoshino.
International solidarity is also developing. Last July, we were given an
opportunity to hold two events in San Francisco LaborFest: “Hoshino Art
Show” and “Labor & Political prisoners: From Hoshino To Mumia.”
The National Coordinating Center of Labor Unions—an organization of
militant labor unions and labor activists in Japan—decided to show its
solidarity with Hoshino, holding its annual convention next February in
Tokushima City near the Tokushima Prison where Hoshino is detained.
Please send your solidarity message to the November 27 rally. It will
greatly help free Hoshino.
Thank you so much in advance.
In Solidarity,
Hoshino Defense Committee
http://fhoshino.u.cnet-ta.ne.jp/pages/ayumi110811.html
http://fhoshino.u.cnet-ta.ne.jp/
Send Message Of Solidarity to
k_kanayama19711114 [at] yahoo.co.jp



Appeal from “Free Hoshino Fumiaki! National Coordinating Conference for
Retrial”

http://fhoshino.u.cnet-ta.ne.jp/pages/ayumi110811.html

HOSHINO Akiko

Co-Chair of the Conference

Spouse of HOSHINO Fumiaki

Brothers and Sisters, thank you for your struggles in your workplaces and
communities.
Hoshino Fumiaki is an innocent political prisoner in Tokushima Prison. He
has spent 36 years in detention. He appeals, “Workers who produce
everything and run the society have the power to smash enemy attacks,
transform workplaces and whole society, get back all the properties from
capitalists and emancipate all human beings. Get back the power of labor
movement, free the anger of all of workers and people! Build unity of all
workers and people across the borders!”

On November 14, 1971, Fumiaki took part in the demonstration in Shibuya,
Tokyo, against the ratification of the Agreement on the Reversion of
Okinawa, which was strengthening of war efforts, especially the
reorganization and enhancement of the US military bases in Okinawa. The
secret pact on nuclear weapons was also included in the Agreement.

During the course of the demonstration, one riot policeman died and the
police framed up and charged Fumiaki on criminal homicide. Also the
Supreme Court sentenced him life imprisonment.

I married with him in 1986 while he was in prison. Since then I have been
living and struggling together with Fumiaki against Japanese inhumane
prison system, which prohibits even a minimal human contact: I cannot
touch his hands.

Fumiaki did not engaged in the death of the riot policeman. He is
innocent. The police framed and arrested many students who had
participated the demonstration and forced them to “confess” the “crime” of
Hoshino. In the open court five of the six students who “confessed”,
withdrew their “testimonies.” Remaining one student refused to testify
altogether. Nevertheless the court admitted the “confession” in a closed
interrogation room as evidence and rejected the testimonies in the open
court.

The first application for retrial was refused. The Supreme Court, however,
admitted that Fumiaki wore at the time “light blue clothes” instead of
“biscuit clothes” which was the previous story of the framed up sentences.

We filed second application for retrial on November 27, last year.

The Tokushima Prison has punished Fumiaki two times, in order to obstruct
our movement for retrial. Seven of his friend were refused to visit him.
My letters were censored and partially erased four times. Even the wife of
the prisoner, myself was prohibited to visit him. And the prison
management “consider lawyers’ visits general visits and limit the time and
the prison officers watch on the side of the lawyers.

We will file a lawsuit under national redress law. Protests from around
the world are surely very effective. Please send protest and encouragement
letters to the government and to Fumiaki. He himself said that his task is
to encourage everyone.


In 1971, many workers and students in mainland Japan rose up for Okinawa
struggle at the risk of their own lives. The life imprisonment of Fumiaki
was retaliation against this historic struggle. This is also an exemplary
punishment on Fumiaki who continues the struggles of 1970 and creates
today’s Okinawa and anti- Anpo (Japan US Security Alliance) struggles in
prison. Furthermore, the oppression against Fumiaki is meant to destroy
the struggles of workers and people including Doro-Chiba outside the
prison.

Smash the divide and conquer policy! Take back Hoshino Fumiaki with the
power of international solidarity. Please support us to free my beloved
husband, Fumiaki, and to corner the Kan administration of Democratic
Party. Please join the national rally for free Hoshino.

Let’s take back political prisoners of the world, including Mumia Abu
Jamal, with international solidarity!

All workers, fight together across borders! Fight back together against
capitalists who shift blames of global financial meltdown to workers!
Let’s organize the Nation-wide Movement of National Railway Struggle and
create a perspective for workers to live our own lives!


Urgent appeal to all working people of the world
Free innocent HOSHINO Fumiaki from 35 years’ imprisonment

March 2010

Free Hoshino! National Coordinating Conference for Retrial


(1) Who is brother HOSHINO Fumiaki and how he has been fightingBrother
HOSHINO Fumiaki, an innocent political prisoner, has spent 35 years in
incarceration. He has been fighting an unflinching and uncompromising
struggle against the state power, refusing every attempt to convert him.
Brother Hoshino puts the principle of his struggle as follows: “Hoshino
struggle is one and same as the struggle of working class for
emancipation” He is a revolutionary who is fighting for the emancipation
of working class from capitalism in death agony of the global economic
crisis.

He was born on April 27, 1946 in Sapporo, Hokkaido and now 63 years old.


US military bases in Okinawa

In the great Okinawa struggle on November 14, 1971, as a student of
Takasaki City University of Economics, he assumed a leading role in
organizing demonstration. During violent clashes between demonstrators and
police, 313 demonstrators were arrested and a woman education worker of
Osaka, one of the demonstrators, was killed and a riot police was dead.
Successively on November 19, Okinawa struggle was fought across the
country with over 1900 demonstrators arrested.

As an apparent retaliation for the explosive development of Okinawa
struggle, police unduly incriminated brother Hoshino, who stood at the
forefront of the battle with riot police, as suspect of killing a
policeman. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and is in prison. He is
now filing the second application for retrial.

(2) Okinawa struggle and brother Hoshino

Okinawa was put under direct Japanese domination in 1609 and has since
been suffering under discrimination and oppression by Japanese government.
In World War II, as an outcome of the intensified strife among imperialist
powers after the Great Depression in 1929, Okinawa people were brutally
victimized.

After World War II, Okinawa was treated as a matter of interests of US and
Japanese governments and finally was delivered to US military
administration by Emperor Hirohito who proposed, by his letter to the US,
to offer Okinawa instead of his life. Thus Okinawa was forced to live
under US military domination for 27 years. The life in Okinawa during
these years was full of humiliation, deprived of sovereignty, human pride
and also lands to live on and sometimes even lives were threatened.

Furious at this situation, people in Okinawa vigorously fought against US
oppression, demanding, “return to Japan”. The US military base in Okinawa
was seriously shaken by the insistent struggle comprising the whole
population of Okinawa.

Faced with this mounting anger of people of Okinawa, Japanese and US
governments decided, in 1971, to return administrative right to Japan only
to maintain the present situation of Okinawa as “island of US bases”
forever, averting the demand of the inhabitants of Okinawa. People of
Okinawa responded to the deceptive return of Okinawa to Japan by a general
strike of whole Okinawa on November 10, 1971.

Japanese government, firmly determined to ratify the Okinawa Return
Agreement in the Diet, prohibited all rallies and demonstrations in Tokyo
to suppress protest actions against the Okinawa policy. On November 14,
militant demonstrators headed by brother Hoshino, defying the ban, crushed
the cordon of the riot police that attacked demonstrators with tear-gas
gun and marched to join tens of thousands of sympathizing masses of people
in Shibuya, downtown Tokyo. The battle continued until midnight. .

The Shibuya battle was a powerful struggle, carried out, in solidarity
with fighting people in Okinawa, by young workers and students, of whom
313 were arrested on the spot, against the discriminating policy of
Japanese government.

The government was violently shaken by the explosive struggle of angry
working people and feared that it would develop into a serious threat to
Japan-US Security Alliance. They resorted to retaliation by charging
brother Hoshino, one of the prominent leaders of the demonstration, for
allegation of killing a riot policeman, knowing very well that he was
innocent.

The state power demanded death sentence but this attempt was crushed by
the strong protest action by wide range of people led by workers. After
court proceedings in three instances, in which the state power desperately
tried to retaliate brother Hoshino, the sentence of life imprisonment was
determined in 1987. It is a political attempt of intimidating fighting
people.

(3) Brother Hoshino is innocent

Brother Fumiaki Hoshino has been consistently insisting upon his innocence
for 35 years since his arrest. This is the strongest proof of his
innocence.

Only evidence of guilt was fabricated “affidavits” of six witnesses who
participated in the student demonstration, including three minors. There
is no physical evidence to prove him guilty. They testified in the trial
that their affidavits were made under the pressure of the interrogators in
an isolated room for a long duration and that their statements were forged
documents.

Though all affidavits of the six witnesses proved to be invalid in the
trial, the Tokyo High Court sentenced brother Hoshino to life
imprisonment. This is an unusual and outrageous deed of Japanese juridical
authorities. An appeal for retrial raised by brother Hoshino was dismissed
on July 14, 2008 by the Supreme Court with an implausible reasoning that
is completely illogical.

To overturn this, brother Hoshino and the defense council for the retrial
filed an application for retrial for the second time on November 27, 2009
with new evidences including 27 items.

The statement of the second application for retrial clarifies that the
sentence of life imprisonment on brother Hoshino is a hundred percent
political frame-up by the security agency.

After the Shibuya struggle in 1971, police conducted, with a presumption
that overwhelming majority of the demonstrators was workers, overall
arrests, investigations and interrogations of workers who were regarded to
have participated in the demonstration of Shibuya battle for more than two
months in vain.

The security police, driven into a corner, targeted the investigation on
brother Hoshino, conspicuous leader of the demonstration, and the fellow
students of his university in Gunma Prefecture and forced indiscriminating
mass arrests of those students. Finally police decided to set up brother
Hoshino.

The new evidences consist of three points: a) A photo taken by police
during the demonstration shows that the iron pipe which brother Hoshino
carried after the “incident” had no trace of damage (he is accused of
beating the policeman by the iron pipe); b) Another photo of brother
Hoshino standing at crossroad long away from the “spot” of the incident,
c) the third photo, showing a demonstrator wearing biscuit clothes, that
coincides with the deposition of one of the witnesses that “One of the
demonstrators who beat the policeman wore biscuit clothes” (brother
Hoshino wore “sky blue” clothes on that day, which even the Supreme Court
was compelled to recognize)

(4) “Free Hoshino” movement

“Free Hoshino” movement has been developed by progressive labor unions and
citizens to protest against the political frame-up on brother Hoshino who
was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment. Now more than 20 support
organizations have been organized all over Japan through a devoted effort
of sister Akiko, who got married with brother Hoshino in prison.Brother
Hoshino is calling on working people all over the world to rise up for the
struggle of self-emancipation now. He is encouraged by the development of
the struggle of angry workers in face of the global economic crisis.

If we resolutely rise up now, we can overturn the bitter history of defeat
that working people experienced in the period that started from the Great
Depression in 1929 and ended up in the disaster of World War II. This is a
voice of brother Hoshino who continues his unflinching struggle in prison
for 35 years.

We are firmly convinced that the struggle to free innocent brother Hoshino
and the struggle of working class of the world for self-emancipation is
one and the same.

Brother Hoshino is watching the struggle of brother Mumia Abu-Jamal and
the movement to support him with deep sympathy and admiration.

We call on the working people of the whole world to help us take back
brother Hoshino as soon as possible in our arms in solidarity with the
Korean workers fighting against the repression of the state power and all
the political prisoners against tyranny and persecution.

Working people all over the world! Let’s fight together to free all
political prisoners as our own task!


A short biography

1945 April.27: Born in Sapporo City, Hokkaido

1965: Enters Takasaki City University of Economics, elected as
vice-president of the Student Autonomous Body and fought against
irregularity of the entrance examination

1971: Placed on the wanted list for the struggle in Sanrizuka against the
Narita airport construction

1971 Nov.14: Joins the Struggle against ratification of the Agreement on
the Reversion of Okinawa (the “Battle of Shibuya”). One policeman burned
to death during the clash with demonstrators.

1975: Arrested.

1979: Demanded death penalty. First trial. Sentenced to 20-year imprisonment

1983: Appeal Court. Sentenced to life imprisonment.

1986 Sep.17: Married with Akiko.

1987 Jul. 17: Final appeal dismissed. Life imprisonment decided.

Oct. 30: Sent to Tokushima Prison.

1996: The first application for a new trial.

2007: Publication of “FumiAkiko”, a joint work of drawings of brother
Fumiaki Hoshino and poems of sister Akiko Hoshino

2008 Jul.14: Supreme Court dismisses the raised special complaint.

2009 Nov. 27: Files second application for a new trial.
Appendex: New Evidences Clearly Show Hoshino’s Innocence

New Evidence 1

His iron pipe has no trace of damage — Comrade Hoshino in front of the
Tokyu Head Shop.

Figure 1 (Evidence for the Defense No. 16) is a macro photograph of
Comrade Hoshino from a picture taken shortly after the demonstrators
arrived in front of the Tokyu Head Shop, passing the site where the
policeman in question was beaten. It clearly shows that the iron pipe
carried by Comrade Hoshino has no trace of damage.

The iron pipe in the hand of Comrade Hoshino, was wrapped by a piece of
paper. If this pipe had been used to beat the policeman, the paper should
have been ripped or torn apart. The paper rolled on the iron pipe carried
by him was not at all damaged — that means that it was never used to beat
the policeman. The accusation that comrade Hoshino beat the policeman is a
complete fabrication. It is evidently proved by this picture.

New Evidence 2

His statement of witnessing reflection of light on the windshields at
Kamiyama East Crossing verified

Comrade Hoshino has maintained for 35 years that he was at Kamiyama East
Crossing at the moment of question, but not at the site where the
policeman was beaten. . “When I looked up, at the crossing, toward the NHK
building (standing at a certain distance from there),” he said, “I saw
cars running from the direction of the NHK building and their windshields
were shining.”

The weather was cloudy, and it was an hour before the sunset. Nobody ever
imagined that windshields would shine, reflecting light. The defense team
made an investigation at the crossing following Comrade Hoshino’s demand,
and did verify that the windshields of cars were reflecting lights under
the similar condition. This fact could only be learned by a person who
stood on at that particular crossing, on that particular day, at that
particular time; it corresponds to what you call “revelation of secret.”

Figure 2 (Evidence for the Defense No. 7) was taken shortly before 3:23
p.m. on November 14 this year. On that day it was cloudy and light
rainfall in the morning had just stopped; although it seemed to be
cloudier than at the time of the incident, the defense was able to verify
the “windshields of running cars were reflecting light” and took
photographs of these facts.

He had to be at the crossing

Comrade Hoshino was the commander of about 200 demonstrators who got off
at Yoyogi-Hachiman, a nearby railway station to Shibuya, the battlefield.
After the first battle in front of Kamiyama Police Box, he was obliged to
stay at the head of demonstrators in order to reorganize the ranks of
demonstrators. He ran, and stopped when no other demonstrator was ahead of
him— it was the Kamiyama East Crossing there.

To keep a lookout on every direction, watching the possible move of riot
police attacking from any direction, and to wait for other demonstrators’
arrival to continue the battle— that was the only concern of Comrade
Hoshino at the crossing. He soon saw the riot police approaching from the
direction of NHK building. Tension mounted, and the road was filled with
demonstrators. “Move on!” he shouted, and left there.

It was the event of 40-50 seconds from the capture of the policeman in
question to the departure. During that time, Comrade Hoshino could not and
did not leave the crossing. There he learned the approach of riot police
from the direction of NHK building and saw the reflected light on the
windshields of running cars. If he had been at the site where the
policeman was beaten, he could not have seen those things.

New Evidence 3

“HE wore biscuit clothes” — Witness Kr. did not really see him

Witness Kr. stated that “One of the demonstrators who beat the policeman
wore biscuit clothes” consistently from the questioning to the trial. As
is evident also from the released depositions of two third persons who
witnessed the scene of beating the policeman — Witness Ab. and Witness Fk.
both witnesses referred to the man who wore “ocher work suit” or “beige
thin coat” as the most impressive person on the scene of beating. Both
expressions are close to “biscuit” color.

Contrary to the Supreme Court, Witness Kr. did not see Comrade Hoshino who
wore the “washy blue” clothes and took its color into “biscuit.”

Figure 3 (Evidence for the Defense No. 12) was taken by Photographer Ut.,
who belonged to the Photograph Department of the Asahi Shimbun at that
time, and another picture taken also by him in the vicinity of Figure 3
was placed in The Weekly Asahi (December 3, 1971).

This picture took from the front the demonstrators who confronted riot
police forming a line in front of Kamiyama Police Box.

This picture clearly shows that the demonstrators included a man who wore
“biscuit” clothes.

Comrade Hoshino was wearing “sky blue (washy blue)” clothes on that day,
which even the Supreme Court was compelled to recognize. Although the
color of his clothes was bright and impressive while the most other
clothes were dark, neither third-person witnesses — Ab. and Fk. — nor six
“fellows in crime” have stated that the “strikers” included a person who
wore the “sky blue” clothes.