Photo/Illutration Wishma Sandamali’s sister Poornima, left, expresses her dissatisfaction over the government’s arguments at a news conference in Nagoya after the July 20 court hearing in a lawsuit over Wishma’s death while in detention. (Haruka Ono)

NAGOYA--The government defended immigration authorities’ response to the deteriorating health of a Sri Lankan woman who died while in detention during the second court hearing here in a damages suit over her death.

“There was no illegality in the immigration authorities’ medical response,” the government told the Nagoya District Court on July 20.

It was the first time that the government offered a specific counterargument in the lawsuit filed by Wishma Sandamali’s bereaved family.

The family blamed the death of Wishma, 33, in March 2021 on the immigration authorities’ failure to properly address her deteriorating health, which started in January that year while she was held at a detention facility run by the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau.

One contentious issue in the case is the bureau’s assessment of Wishma’s urinary test on Feb. 15, 2021.

Her family questioned bureau officials’ decision to let Wishma see a psychiatrist despite the test results indicating that she was starving.

The family argued that her life would have been saved if she had been immediately granted temporary release from the immigration facility or provided proper medical treatment.

The government denied any problems in bureau officials’ response, citing measures they took after the urinary test, including prescribing nutritional supplement to Wishma.

It justified the officials’ decision on her psychiatrist visit, saying they took into account the possibility that she fell ill because of changes in her mental status.

The government also defended the officials’ decision to continue her detention because they were planning to grant her provisional release the day before her death, and her doctor also determined that her condition did not call for immediate temporary release.

In the lawsuit, her family is demanding the government submit security camera footage capturing Wishma for two weeks until her death.

The government insisted that there is no need to examine the footage but indicated that it would consider submitting only parts of the video it deems necessary.

“We’ll never be able to get to the bottom of this without the video,” Wishma’s sister Wayomi, 29, told the court. “Further delay in uncovering the truth will prolong our family’s suffering. Don’t ever tolerate this unreasonable treatment.”

Lawyer Shoichi Ibusuki, a member of the bereaved family’s legal team, blasted the government’s arguments at a news conference after the July 20 hearing.

“They all didn’t hold water,” Ibusuki said. “I think it’s totally dodging (responsibilities).”

The legal team questioned the government’s denial of problems in the bureau officials’ handling of Wishma’s urinary test results in February 2021.

The team said the government did not provide any reason for not letting Wishma see a doctor other than a psychiatrist at a medical institution outside the immigration facility.

Her sister Poornima, 28, expressed distrust of the government, saying, “It must be hiding something.”

(This article was written by Akari Nakagawa and Haruka Ono.)

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