Photo/Illutration Supporters of Toru Kubota, a Japanese documentary filmmaker imprisoned in Myanmar, call for his immediate release at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo on Oct. 26. (Azusa Kato)

Supporters of Toru Kubota, a Japanese documentary filmmaker imprisoned in Myanmar for filming protests, called on the Japanese government to negotiate his immediate release in a news conference in Tokyo on Oct. 26.

They held the news conference just prior to the three-month anniversary of Kubota’s detainment by security forces in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar.

Three supporters of Kubota, including his journalist friend Yuki Kitazumi, spoke at the news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

Kubota was detained by security forces on July 30 while filming anti-military protests in Yangon.

The military seized control over the Southeast Asian country in a coup in February last year.

A court under military control handed Kubota a 10-year prison sentence this month on various charges against him related to the filming. 

“He (Kubota) was just gathering materials to report on stories while observing journalistic ethics,” Kitazumi said at the news conference. “He didn’t do anything that should be criticized. We urge the Japanese government to rigorously negotiate (with the Myanmar side to release Kubota).”

According to Kitazumi, Kubota is housed in a solitary cell at Insein Prison in the suburbs of Yangon.

He said Kubota is imprisoned there while exchanging support with other inmates. Kubota is fit and healthy, he said.

Kubota’s family and supporters sent textbooks and other books on the Burmese language (the Myanmar language) to him in prison because he said he wants to learn it, Kitazumi said.

However, since there was an explosion at the prison on Oct. 19, they have not been allowed to send him items anymore.

Kitazumi was also detained by security forces in Myanmar last year and was incarcerated in the same prison for about a month.

He was imprisoned in a solitary cell as small as 10 square meters.

He had to use a wooden grate as a bed and a hole as a toilet in the cell, Kitazumi said.

Kitazumi said that the time when he could interact with other political prisoners changed depending on the prison officers.

“When I was in a solitary cell for several days, it was hard to maintain a stable mental condition. I want Kubota to be strong,” he said.

Kitazumi recalled that he was once forced to use curry sauce to write with because he wanted to record his prison life to keep up his spirits but didn’t have a pen.

Kitazumi read aloud a message from Kubota, which he received through the filmmaker’s family at the end of September.

The message reads, “Myanmar is in a state of an invisible war. Please keep paying attention to people living in this country.”

Teppei Kasai, a member of Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, also attended the news conference.

He pointed out concerns with the legal system in Myanmar.

In March last year just after the coup, Myanmar’s military declared martial law in areas where large protests were held, and administrative and judicial powers were transferred to heads of regional military commands in such areas.

Since then, a military tribunal decides on serious charges and appealing a ruling is not allowed.

A tribunal gave a ruling on two of the three charges against Kubota.

“Myanmar’s military tribunals have a notorious history,” Kasai said. “Trials are held in prisons privately without being seen by the public or the international community.”

“Regardless of what the charges are, a military tribunal almost always issues a guilty verdict and hands down more severe sentences than ordinary courts.”

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