Nicholas John Baker

File:Nickbaker.jpg

Nick Baker

Nick Baker is a British professional chef, raised in Gloucestershire in the United Kingdom. He was arrested in Japan on April 13 2002 at the age of 32, for allegedly violating the Narcotic and Psychotropic Drug Control Law and Customs Law when contraband was found in false compartments of a suitcase upon his arrival at Narita Airport near Tokyo. Baker has consistantly claimed that he was set up by his travelling companion, James Prunier, whom he became friendly with after meeting 2-3 years previously at a local football club. Baker claimed that when he got to the baggage carousel, Prunier, who had gone through immigration first, told him that Baker's bag had come and gone. Prunier, who was already holding his own suitcase, told Baker to take it and get in the customs line while he waited for Baker's bag, whereupon he would join him in the queue. Prunier however joined a different queue in possession on Baker's blue sports bag. Upon reaching inspection, the grey Delsey suitcase Baker was holding for Prunier was found to contain 41,120 ecstasy tablets together with 992.5 grams of cocaine, the largest ever walk-through seizure of ecstasy at Narita Airport at that time. After Baker's arrest, Prunier was placed under surveillance by the Japanese police, and cutting short his planned two-week stay, was freely allowed to leave the country two days later without questioning. He was subsequently arrested in Belgium some three months later for alledgedly smuggling drugs along with three other young British people.

Chiba District Court trial

The Prosecution contended that Baker's statements showed he was involved with a drug smuggling ring, that he had changed his story several times, that he had a financial incentive to commit the crime, and that he was in posession of the drugs. The defence argued that all of Baker's signed statements used against him in court were written only in Japanese, a language he does not speak or read. They argued that inconsistencies in his story arose because Baker's thick Gloucestershire accent was misinterpreted by poorly-qualified interpreters. They argued that Baker was was coerced into signing statements he was told incriminated Prunier when he was actually incriminating himself. They asked for Prunier's involvement in the Belgian case (the so-called "Belgian Evidence") to be submitted into evidence. They submitted tax returns to show that Baker had an above-average income and therefore no reason to engage in a risky drug smuggling venture. District Court Presiding Judge Kenji Kadoya refused to admit the Belgian evidence and refused to enter Baker's tax returns as evidence.

In June 2003, Baker was sentenced by the Chiba District Court to 14 years in prison with forced labour and a Yen 5,000,000- fine.

The Tokyo High Court Appeal

The High Court Appeal began March 23, 2004 and ended on October 27, 2005, during which time the court convened 11 times for a total of around 18 hours. During the course of the trial the prosecutor, the court-appointed translator and one of the judges was changed (Japan does not have a jury system, each trial is overseen by three judges).

In the appeal, the defence argued that there was collusion between prosecutors and customs investigation officers regarding the initial customs officers report, particuarly as it related to the wherabouts of the key to the case. They also argued that Baker's statements showed coercion by investigators and that Baker's statements had been incorrectly interpreted and inaccurately translated. The defense also argued that the "Belgian Evidence" and Baker's tax returns should have been admitted in the lower court. The defense submitted testimony from a linguistics professor, showing gross discrepencies in the Chiba district court trials translation and further expert testimony from a photographic expert purportedly showing the key zipped up inside a pouch in the suitcase - the implication being that Baker could not have thrown the key into the case according to the customs officers' testimony.

On October 27 2005, the presiding judge upheld the guilty verdict, ruling that Baker was aware of the contents of the case. However, the judge reduced the sentence from 14 years to 11 years noting that although Baker had not shown remorse "he does not seem to be the mastermind, and his parents have been worried about him". Baker's fine was also reduced from Yen 5,000,000- (approx. £24,392) to Yen 3,000,000- (approx. £14,635). Baker was awarded time served of 1,172 days against the sentence, excluding a percentage of time held in remand during the district court trial. His work rate was raised from Yen 10,000 to Yen 20,000 (approx. £97.58) per day. A daily "work rate" is the sum deducted from his fine, if it remains unpaid. In Baker's case, he will have 150 days added to his sentence if the fine is not paid.

In November 2005 Baker decided not to appeal to Japan's Supreme Court and was transferred to Fuchu Prison to begin serving his sentence. Baker will be eligible to transfer to a U.K. prison after one third of his sentence has been completed in Japan.

Justice for Nick Baker Campaign

In the summer of 2003, soon after the China District Court verdict, Baker's mother Iris launched an awareness campaign and website Justice For Nick Baker and called on concerned people to contact the Japanese and British embassies in their countries to demand fair and just treatment for Baker and other detainees in Japan. The campaign did not argue on the question of guilt or innocence, rather it asserted that Baker had not received a fair trial at the Chiba District Court, and strove to focus international attention on the upcoming High Court appeal. The campaign focused on three main issues:

• 1. Baker's treatment from the time of his arrest, specifically that he had been interrogated for 23 days, shackled to a chair, without counsel present; and called for the enshrinement of a detainee's right to legal council.
• 2. That he had been made to sign confessions in a language he did not understand; and called for reform allowing the tape-recording of interrogations and for licensing of court and police interpreters and translators.
• 3. Drew attention to Japan's 99.97% conviction rate, noting that Presiding Judge Kenji Kadoya had never found a defendant "not guilty" in his more than 10 years on the bench.

A petition signed by more than 5,000 people was presented by Iris Baker and The Baroness Sarah Ludford, Member of European Parliament, to Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street. Iris Baker later presented the petition to the Tokyo High Court.

During the appeal, the website posted visitor logs which showed regular monitoring by the Japanese Ministry of Justice, and administrators claimed they received a warning from the High Court (delivered by e-mail via Baker's lawyer Shunji Miyake) demanding that criticism of the court interpreter be removed from the site.

Due to the campaign major newspapers and television in the UK and English media in Japan reported on the case, although it was largely ignored by the Japanese-language media.

Criticism of Baker and the support network

When new information showed that Baker had been to Japan two months before his arrest, Mark Devlin, publisher of Metropolis, Japan's largest circualtion English language magazine, and Japan Today, an Internet news and information portal, claimed that the support group was not being honest in its presentation of facts to the public. Devlin, who was originally a supporter of the case was critical of Iris Baker and the support group in an editorial he wrote in a September, 2004 issue of his magazine. Baker's supporters have claimed that no articles critical of the support group appear in any other media.

During the appeal process, Baker's defence documents were released on Baker's support site. The documents showed that when Baker and Prunier had been travelling in Europe, Prunier had told Baker that he owed two Israelis money and was being sent to Japan to collect something for them. The Israelis had provided Prunier with the case. The statements also revealed that the Israelis threatened Baker after check-in at the airport, threatening to kill members of his family.

Devlin claimed that even though Iris Baker had attended the trial and had access to the Chiba District Court trial documents, she denied that Baker was involved with the Israeli Mafia, discounting it as a "rumour". The support group also claimed that the Belgian dupes had been set free, when they had actually been convicted. They claimed Prunier was a professional con-man without any supporting evidence.

During the appeal, Prunier remained in the UK awaiting trial in Belgium. In an interview in early 2004 Prunier said he did not set-up Baker. In August 2004, Prunier, an unstable cocaine and alcohol addict, was found dead on a railway track in Gloucester. An inquest returned a suicide verdict.

In November 2004, after Devlin had sent his analysis of the case to other media and supporters, Iris Baker branded him a spammer and also threatened to file a libel action against him. To date, no suit has been filed.

Near the end of the appeal process, Baker's supporters' attempt to enlist the support of his MP, David Drew of Stroud, backfired when the MP said his findings did not tally with the account on Baker's website. When asked to clarify the situation by releasing the court documents from the Chiba District Court trial, Iris Baker refused to do so, saying it would be a waste of resources to translate the documents. However, the British Embassy had translated the original Chiba district court documents into English for the family at the time of that trial.

The Japanese justice system and the 99.97% conviction rate

Criticism of the Japanese criminal-justice system's 99.97% conviction rate is central to Baker's campaign. The rate was significantly lower until Japan eliminated its jury system in 1943. Lobbying by human rights groups and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations resulted the passing of a judicial reform bill in May, 2004, which will reintroduce a lay-jury system in 2009.

The high conviction rate has been attributed to the weight given confessions obtained during the 23-day period Japanese police and prosecutors are permitted to interrogate suspects without access to legal counsel. Despite the Japanese Constitution's Article 38 categorical requirement that "no person shall be convicted or punished in cases where the only proof against him is his own confession," defendants are routinely convicted solely on the basis of these confessions.

J. Mark Ramseyer of Harvard Law School and Eric B. Rasmusen of Indiana University argue in their paper that ("Why Is the Japanese Conviction Rate So High?") that the conviction rate in Japan is high due three factors:

• Japanese prosecutors have limited resources and only pick the cases that are assured success
• Judges look down on prosecutors who have not prepared their cases well
• The overall incarceration level in Japan is low.

Temple University Professor and author Ivan Hall asks whether Ramseyer's ready defence of Japanese institutions may be due to a conflict of interest -- he holds the million-Dollar Mitsubishi Chair at Harvard Law School.

News links about the case (ordered by date)

• Peer alleges Briton's trial is flawed
• 'Duped' Briton gets 14 years
• Convicted Briton says he was drug run patsy
• Nick Baker fights 14-year sentence for smuggling drugs
• Drug smuggler Baker's appeal to test Japan's judicial system
• Nick wasn't set up says travelling companion
• Briton begins drugs charge appeal
• Jailed Briton's appeal postponed
• Man implicated in Nick Baker drug conviction found dead in Gloucester
• Suicide verdict recorded on "cocaine addicted and alcoholic" traveling companion
• Inquest opens into death on railway line
• Tokyo High Court to rule next week on Baker's conviction
• Drug felon Nick Baker's sentence reduced to 11 years
• Judge rejects drugs man's appeal
• British drug smuggler Nick Baker rules out further appeal

Other External links

• Nick Baker's supporters' site
• Fair Trial's Abroad entry on Nick Baker's case
• Articles about the case by Baroness Sarah Ludford, Member of the European Parliament
• We the Jury: Criticism of the Justice for Nick Baker Support Network by the Publisher of Metropolis magazine
• Criticism of the Publisher of Metropolis magazine by Iris Baker
• Ramseyer report,gWhy Japan has a 99% conviction rate"
• Ramseyer: no systemic human right's abuse in Japan
• Amnesty International's human right's concerns - Japan
• Metropolis magazine round-up of the case