Saturday, January 10, 2004 at 07:00 JST

LONDON — Supporters of a Briton convicted of smuggling a record quantity of drugs into Japan said Friday that his forthcoming appeal hearing would be a "test case" into the workings of the country's judicial system.

Within the next few days, lawyers acting on behalf of Nick Baker will submit their grounds for appeal to the Tokyo High Court, claiming the way the police conducted their investigations and the subsequent trial were severely flawed. An appeal hearing is expected in March.

The London-based organization Fair Trials Abroad hopes that if successful the appeal could set new standards for the treatment of defendants in Japan. The group claims that Japan's judicial system is geared up towards securing convictions at the expense of justice and in many respects resembles systems in the developing world.

Baker, 33, was sentenced by the Chiba District Court to 14 years in prison in June for trying to smuggle 41,120 tablets of ecstasy and 990 grams of cocaine into Narita Airport in April 2002, using a suitcase fitted with a false bottom. It was the largest-ever single drug haul at Narita airport.

He claims that the suitcase containing the drugs did not belong to him but his traveling companion, a fellow Briton, who asked him to take it through customs. The friend in question was never stopped at customs and, although tracked by police while staying in Japan, was never quizzed or detained when he left the country.

In May 2002, Nick's traveling companion, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested and charged in Belgium on drugs smuggling charges. The evidence alleges he duped others to smuggle the drugs on his behalf. His trial is expected to start in a few weeks.

Shunji Miyake, Baker's Japanese lawyer, wanted to use this evidence at Baker's original trial as it would help support his client's case. The judges, however, refused to request the information from the Belgium authorities.

Miyake, who has recently visited Belgium, told a press conference in London Friday, "We think that because this crucial evidence was lacking, the original case was not well heard or examined by the district court." Miyake declined to comment on the evidence he has obtained in Belgium but says his trip was "productive."

He will be pushing to have this evidence heard at the appeal.

Miyake is also highly critical of the way in which Baker was interrogated by Japanese police. His client was interrogated over a period of 23 days without any legal advice. The standard of interpreting was poor and Baker was made to sign statements in Japanese with only an oral summary in English.

According to his supporters, crucial statements from Baker were wrongly translated. For example, when Nick said, "This is my mate's bag," this was apparently translated as "this is my bag." Miyake is particularly concerned that a non-Japanese speaker's statements are only written down in Japanese and he suggests that this procedure should be looked at by the judicial community in Japan.

Stephen Jakobi, director of Fair Trials Abroad, said Japan was akin to Saudi Arabia in terms of its initial interrogation processes.

"I must express my amazement that Japan has a justice system working along those lines when, as we know, upon most other factors, including democracy and general civilization, the Japanese have a very good claim to being one of the premier league countries in the world. It's an extraordinary anomaly," he said.

Jakobi said he hopes that Baker's appeal would act as a "test case" and he said he was encouraged by the fact that the case had attracted much attention among Japan's legal community and in the country's national press.

Jakobi branded Japan's legal process a "conviction system" citing figures that only one in every 1,000 defendants is either acquitted at the first trial or in a subsequent appeal.

Baker's mother, Iris, said her son was currently "struggling" as he was in solitary confinement and had not had many visitors due to the New Year holidays. She added that he had developed the first signs of frostbite on his hands. (Kyodo News)