Photo/Illutration Le Thi Thuy Linh attends a ceremony Nov. 7, 2021, to mark the first anniversary of her twins’ deaths in Kumamoto. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Supreme Court has signaled it might overturn a guilty verdict against a Vietnamese technical intern trainee who abandoned her stillborn twins.

Lawyers for Le Thi Thuy Linh, 23, filed an appeal against the January guilty verdict by the Fukuoka High Court which handed the defendant a three-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for abandoning the bodies of stillborn twins after she gave birth at home alone in Kumamoto Prefecture.

The Second Petty Bench of the Supreme Court set Feb. 24 as the date for a session to hear oral arguments from both prosecutors and defense lawyers.

Such a session is required when the top court plans to overturn a high court ruling.

In a statement released Dec. 9, Linh expressed gratitude to the Supreme Court for its decision to hear oral arguments in the case and voiced her hopes the guilty verdict would be overturned.

Lawyers for Linh as well as a group that has supported her since she was arrested have called for her to be exonerated.

“I strongly hope that the Supreme Court will totally review the high court ruling regarding the actions taken by the mother amid her confused state immediately after the stillbirth of the twins,” said Hiroki Ishiguro, a lawyer who is representing Linh.

Lawyers and a support group that organized a petition drive on her behalf pointed out that the main issue revolved around Linh giving birth in an isolated situation at home, something that no woman should be punished for.

Linh delivered stillborn twins at her home in Kumamoto Prefecture in November 2020.

At the time, she was working at a farm as a technical intern trainee and didn’t consult anyone, not even a doctor, about her pregnancy for fear she would be forced to return to her home country if her situation came to light.

She wrapped the bodies in a towel and placed them inside a cardboard box with a letter of apology.

She went to a hospital the next day and said her babies were stillborn.

In July 2021, the Kumamoto District Court found Linh guilty and gave her an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for three years.

Defense lawyers argued that Linh placed the bodies in the cardboard box to prepare for burial, but the district court said the woman should have sought help from those around her.

The Fukuoka High Court reduced the sentence on grounds Linh could not be found to have abandoned the bodies since she went to the hospital the day after giving birth.

But the high court still found her guilty, ruling that placing the bodies in two cardboard boxes and taping them was a sign Linh wanted to cover up the deaths.

When defense lawyers sought opinion papers from the general public, they received 127 letters, about half of which were from women who had given birth in similar circumstances.

The letters said the issue was not confined only to Linh, but affected all women who may have to endure childbirth without backup from family members or others.

Kumusutaka-Association for Living Together with Migrants, a Kumamoto-based nonprofit organization, has been supporting Linh since shortly after her arrest two years ago. A petition drive seeking a not guilty verdict gathered about 90,000 signatures.

(This article was written by Takuro Negishi and Kei Yoshida.)

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