Mother ‘has right to appeal’ to a Chinese court for compensation

Legal experts said on Tuesday that a Chinese suspect who will stand trial in Japan after being accused of killing a Chinese woman last year is unlikely to be returned to China, but the victim’s mother could file a civil lawsuit in China to demand compensation if the man is convicted.

Jiang Ge, 24, a graduate student from Qingdao, Shandong province, who was studying in Japan was found dead with multiple stab wounds in the corridor of her Tokyo apartment on Nov 3 last year.

Japanese police said in late November that they had arrested a suspect, Chen Shifeng, who is the ex-boyfriend of Jiang’s roommate Liu Xin. Chen was charged with murder in December.

The case will be publicly heard in Tokyo on Dec 11, and is expected to last five days.

Although China has made no request for Chen’s return, the topic has been widely discussed on social media.

Huang Feng, a law professor specialising in international criminal law and international legal co-operation at Beijing Normal University, said there is little chance Chen will be extradited from Japan.

“Chinese judicial authorities can handle the case only when the suspect is controlled by us, but now he isn’t,” he said. “Meanwhile, Japan will refuse any request from China to return Chen, because the case is going to be tried. The crime happened in Japan, so it will be better to handle it in that country. It’s more convenient for Japanese police to investigate.”

There is no extradition treaty between the two countries, he added.

Ruan Chuansheng, a criminal lawyer who studied international judicial co-operation in Shanghai, agreed. Based on his past research, when a non-Japanese person is involved in a crime in Japan, the country will not repatriate the person it is investigating, regardless what kind of visa is carried, Ruan said.

“Solving the case is the priority,” he said.

If extradition is pursued, China would normally make the request, he added. “But so far it hasn’t done that, so I don’t think Chen’s case will be transferred.”

Both legal professionals said the victim’s family could seek compensation by filing a civil lawsuit against Chen in a Chinese court if he is convicted.

The victim’s mother, Jiang Qiulian, has petitioned the Japanese government for Chen to receive the death penalty should he be found guilty.

“No matter whether Chen is in China or not, the mother has the right to appeal to a Chinese court, such as one in Qingdao, for compensation under the Civil Procedure Law,” Ruan said.

He added that courts usually will not accept such a case until a defendant has been convicted and sentenced. Huang said a conviction would strongly support a civil lawsuit against a killer, who may or may not have the resources to pay.

While courts do not force family members to pay compensation for the crimes of adult relatives, payment arrangements may be made privately, outside the court system, by family members.

In seeking a death penalty, the victim’s mother, Jiang Qiulian, who is currently in Japan, held four activities to drum up support, gathering signatures in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district over the weekend. An online petition to collect signatures is still ongoing, according to the mother’s micro blog on Thursday, but it is set to end on Nov 30.

Dr Yorn Chiranakhon, a senior official at the Public Health Ministry, was yesterday charged with drunk driving and attempted murder after his car hit a security guard and dragged him for 20 metres inside the ministry compound in Nonthaburi’s Muang district last Friday.

A video clip of the incident went viral on the Internet on Monday.

After he surrendered to police, Yorn was charged with reckless driving causing serious injury, driving while being intoxicated and attempted murder.

Deputy national police chief Pol General Weerachai Songmetta said after Yorn’s interrogation that the attempted murder charge was filed because he stopped his vehicle for 25 seconds after initially hitting the guard, before moving forward, running over him and dragging him for 20 metres.

He said Yorn confessed to reckless driving but denied the other charges. Police said they were confident on all the charges based on evidence collected, including CCTV footage and the testimony of witnesses, Weerachai said.

Public Health Ministry spokeswoman Dr Panpimol Wipulakorn said yesterday that a fact-finding committee had been set up to look into the incident, to ensure justice for both sides and provide assistance to the seriously injured guard Somchai Yamdee, 22, and his family.

She said the ministry would also trim trees and bushes in the area and install lighting at all gates in the compound to reduce the risk of accidents, particularly at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute gate, the scene of the incident.

Somchai, who has undergone two brain operations since the incident, was in stable condition at Phra Nangkalo Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

Hospital deputy director Dr Sakol Sukphrom said Somchai had responded well to treatment and was able to raise a hand and leg and raise two fingers. His vital signs were normal, although he still depended on a respirator and had a fever.

Somchai was entitled to free medical treatment for the first 72 hours after the emergency, Sakol said. Yorn and the ministry had stated it would cover Somchai’s medical expenses and pay compensation.

Officials from the Rights and Liberties Protection Department visited Somchai in hospital yesterday to check on his recovery and said they would provide aid in line with the law. Public Health Minister Dr Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn yesterday said Yorn had already expressed responsibility for the incident, adding that people should let justice run its course.

Asked whether a disciplinary committee would be set up to investigate Yorn, Piyasakol said the ministry would have to discuss the matter before making a decision because the incident reportedly took place outside office hours. However, he said that he had instructed officials to ensure the culprit is punished.

On Monday, Panpimol also said the ministry would wait for the results of the police investigation before deciding whether to set up a disciplinary probe against Yorn to avoid redundancy.

Dr Taejing Siripanich, secretary-general of the Don’t Drive Drunk Foundation, urged Piyasakol to set up a disciplinary probe against Yorn in parallel with the police probe, as the alleged drunk driving charge by a ministry official was “worse than a sexual harassment accusation”.

The ministry has recently been implicated in a serious sexual harassment case.