By TOSHINARI TAKAHASHI/ Staff Writer
December 26, 2022 at 17:48 JST
Wishma Sandamali’s sisters during a news conference held in Tokyo on Dec. 26 (Toshinari Takahashi)
A citizen inquest panel accepted prosecutors’ decision not to seek murder charges against immigration officials over the death of a Sri Lankan woman but said indictments on negligence resulting in death charges were warranted.
The decision, made on Dec. 21 by the Nagoya First Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, said 13 employees of the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau could have prevented the death of Wishma Sandamali.
The Sri Lankan woman was detained for overstaying her student visa in August 2020 and died while in detention at the Nagoya bureau’s facility in March 2021.
The Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office’s decision not to indict the bureau officials drew outrage from her family members and supporters.
The inquest committee concluded that murder charges would be inappropriate in the case, but leaving the woman unattended while she was showing signs of illness could have been professional negligence resulting in death.
The decision means prosecutors will relaunch their investigation into the death to determine if they can lay criminal charges against the bureau employees.
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