Sasahara Hidiaki and others

Case Summary

The victim, Hussein Gulab, was apprehended by the Japanese authorities after he was accused of stealing sweet potatoes. Hussein was tied up and maltreated by the second defendant, Chief Petty Officer Yatsuzuka Minoru, who scalded Hussein's body with hot water and beat him up.

Subsequently, the first defendant, Lieutenant Sasahara Hidiaki, gave orders that Hussein was to be brought to his bungalow. There, Hussein was tied up beaten principally by Yatsuzuka and the third defendant, Chief Petty Officer Ozaki Shigeru, with a stick on the orders of Sasahara, who had himself also struck a few blows on the victim.

Hussein subsequently died at an unknown time later.

For moreinformation see:

http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/d747fe/

http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/3332f5/

http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/24e8ad/

An argument occurred between the Hindi defence interpreter and British defence advisory counsel, with the interpreter being accused of mistranslating the third prosecution witness, and was subsequently warned by the court against putting his version of the translation. This led to the Hindi defence interpreter withdrawing from the proceedings.

To enable the trial to carry on, the British defence advisory counsel, who was capable of understanding Hindi, was sworn in as an interpreter.