Photo/Illutration Lawyers and supporters of Le Thi Thuy Linh march in front of the Supreme Court on Feb. 24. (Kei Yoshida)

Lawyers for a former Vietnamese technical intern trainee found guilty of abandoning the bodies of her stillborn twins argued at the Supreme Court that her conviction should be overturned because she intended to hold a funeral for them. 

But in oral arguments before the court in Tokyo on Feb. 24, prosecutors said the trainee's actions after giving birth at home were done to conceal the bodies. 

The appeal was filed by 24-year-old Le Thi Thuy Linh, who received a three-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, from the Fukuoka High Court in January 2022. 

The Second Petty Bench of the Supreme Court indicated in December 2022 that it would hear oral arguments from both sides, a step required to overturn a high court ruling.

The Supreme Court will later set the date for its ruling.

According to the high court ruling, 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 condition 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 their Feb. 24 arguments, defense lawyers said Linh’s placing of the bodies in the cardboard box was an act to lay them at rest.

The Fukuoka High Court ruled that placing the bodies in the box was intended to conceal their whereabouts and greatly reduced the possibility that a proper burial would have been conducted.

But defense lawyers told the Supreme Court that their client placed the bodies in the box to keep them out of the cold. They added that the box was sealed to prevent decomposition.

Defense lawyers argued that their client should not have been found guilty because of her intent to hold a funeral for her children.

Prosecutors said the high court ruling should be upheld because Linh’s actions were not a part of the funeral planning, but intended to conceal the bodies.

They added that a proper funeral would have been possible if the defendant had sought assistance by letting others know about the stillbirth.

Linh appeared at a news conference after the oral arguments and said, “I absolutely did not harm the bodies of my children, abandon them or conceal them.”

She explained that immediately after the stillbirth she was in incredible physical and psychological pain, but she did all that she could for her children with a mother's love.

She said the Supreme Court decision in December to hear oral arguments represented “a ray of hope.”

She added that she hoped a not guilty verdict would be handed down not only for her, but “all technical intern trainees who suffer because they cannot reveal to anyone their pregnancies as well as all women who are forced to give birth by themselves.”

According to her supporters, Linh now works at another Kumamoto Prefecture farm under a specified skilled worker visa.

Hiroki Ishiguro, a lawyer who is representing Linh, said at the news conference, “I hope the Supreme Court overturns a dangerous ruling that easily equates giving birth alone with the abandonment of dead bodies.”

(This article was written by Takashi Endo and Kei Yoshida.)

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