By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe 

DUBLIN, Ireland – Last week, Nicola Furlong’s family was left “disgusted” when they heard the man who murdered their daughter could only face a five-year jail sentence.

A Tokyo District Court found 19-year-old, Richard Hinds, an American, guilty of strangling Nicola Furlong to death last year. Since Hinds was a minor when he was arrested, the court sentenced him to 5 to 10 years in jail. Furthermore, James Blackston, a 23-year-old, was sentenced to three years for sexual assault.

Nicola Furlong’s mother, Angela, broke down as the jail term was announced. She called the court’s decision “a travesty”. She stated, “It’s not enough, given the pain he caused Nicola. We’re not leaving here believing we have justice. We still don’t know the truth of what happened in that hotel room.”

Nichola’s sister, Andrea, stated the Japanese criminal justice system let her family down. She said, “I’m absolutely disgusted and so angry and so hurt. We had so much faith in the Japanese doing justice for us and I don’t feel we got it.”

Hinds and Blackston met Nicola Furlong and a friend after a concert in Tokyo. According to the prosecution, after the concert, the four traveled to a bar where the two women were drugged.

Furthermore, prosecution entered taxi footage that shows Blackston sexually assaulting Furlong’s friend as they travelled to the Keio Plaza Hotel. The footage also shows the men borrowing wheelchairs to get the unconscious women to a room.

Prosecutors later stated Hinds strangled Furlong with a towel to keep her quiet after she regained consciousness.

Delivering the verdict, the lead judge, Masaharu Ashizawa stated that the fact that Furlong was “strangled with force for several minutes” showed Hinds had murderous “intent.” Furthermore, Judge Ashizawa stated, “the tendency of sentencing in juvenile cases [means that] we can’t choose the death penalty or life imprisonment.”

Nonetheless, Judge Ashizawa, called the murder “atrocious and vicious in nature” and said Hinds’ version of what happened was “not credible”. Judge Ashizawa continued, “The defendant has continually given irrational explanations in his defense that have dishonored the victim.”

Hinds argued that Furlong voluntarily went to the hotel with him and willingly engaged in “rough sex”. His defense also argued that it was a “synergistic combination” of alcohol and prescription drugs that caused her death.

Although Hinds did not react when the verdict was declared, he smiled at his family as he walked out.

For further information, please see:

BBCNews – Richard Hinds Guilty of Nicola Furlong Murder in Tokyo – 19 March 2013

The Independent – Killer of Irish Woman in Japan Gets Light Sentence – 19 March 2013

Irish News – Nicola Furlong Family Angered At Japanese Justice System – 19 March 2013

The Japan Times – A Violent Death, Some Justice, Few Answers in Furlong Case – 19 March 2013

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, U.K. – A decade after the invasion of Iraq, more than a fifth (22%) of the British public believes that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair should be tried for war crimes, according to a recent YouGov survey.  Additionally, over half of Britons (53%) believe the decision to go to war was wrong, while just more than a quarter stand by the decision (27%).  In 2003, at the time of the invasion, just over half of Britons (53%) supported military action.

Critics have claimed that Blair and former U.S. president George W. Bush misled their respective publics by promising that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was illegally hiding weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), that there was an urgent need to liberate Iraq from the control of Hussein, who was purported to be in league with al-Qaeda, and that the Iraqi people would welcome this liberation.  After the invasion, it became clear that there were no WDMs in Iraq, and while Hussein was quickly ousted, military involvement in the country descended into a quagmire due to entanglements with insurgents and militia groups.

Britain sent 45,000 troops to Iraq to take control of the southern provinces, sacrificing the lives of 179 British service personnel.  In the ten years since the invasion, at least 112,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed, in addition to several thousand policemen and soldiers.

The YouGov poll revealed that half of the questioned Britons say Blair deliberately mislead the British public about the threat posed by WMDs, while just less than a third (31%) think he genuinely believed Hussein possessed a stockpile of WMDs, and a little fewer (29%) say Blair was right to warn the public of the dangers of the Hussein regime.  1,684 British adults were polled.

However, Blair maintains that the decision to invade was correct when made, even if when he rarely appears in public he is accosted by protesters who want him tried as a war criminal.

“I still believe it was right to remove Saddam,” Blair told Britain’s ITV television. “We sometimes forget now what the regime was actually like and the devastation it caused.”

Nonetheless, Blair concedes that hindsight suggests the invasion was a mistake, even if his actions were right.  In his 2010 autobiography, “A Journey”, Blair wrote: “Many supporters will acknowledge I did it for the correct motives, but still regard it as ‘the stain’ on an otherwise impressive record.”  He concludes that “All I know is I did what I thought was right.”

Even so, a majority (53%) of the polled Britons expressed concern that the war had increased the risk of terrorist attacks against Britain.  However, two in five believe Iraqis are better off now than they were a decade ago under Saddam Hussein, while one in five maintain Iraqis would have been better off under the dictator.  Nevertheless, over two-thirds (71%) agreed Iraq is likely to suffer permanent instability in the coming years.

As for former U.S. President Bush, he has remained largely out of the public eye in the United States, particularly when compared with the post presidential lives of his predecessors.  He also rarely ventures out of the United States, and in 2011, and trip to Switzerland had to be canceled when human rights groups announced plans to submit a 2,500-page case against the former president to pressure authorities in Geneva to arrest Bush for torture and other human rights abuses.

When asked about his approval of water-boarding,  a method of torture condemned in most countries under the Convention on Torture, Bush defends his approval of the practice.  “I’d do it again,” he says, “to save lives.”

For further information, please see:

Press TV – Bush, Blair Must Stand Trial for Iraq War Crimes: Analyst – 18 March 2013

Global Post – Decade on, Blair Adamant Iraq Invasion was Right – 17 March 2013

The Independent – George W Bush: the President who Started the Iraq War 10 Years Ago is Nowhere to be Seen – 15 March 2013

The Guardian – 53% of Britons Think Iraq Invasion was Wrong, Poll Shows – 14 March 2013

Returns – Bush’s Swiss Visit off after Complaints on Torture – February 5 2011