The appeal for Yaakov Yosef, who was already sentenced to six years in prison, began on Monday, November 1st. The team of defense lawyers met with the askonim in the courthouse at 10:00 AM, where they summarized the main points of their arguments. At 10:50 they took their places in the courtroom. At 10:55 Yaakov Yosef arrived, and at 11:00 the proceedings began.

Yaakov Yosef was asked for his name and date of birth. Already it was obvious that he was not familiar with his secular birth date, only his Jewish one. This is in line with the defendant’s claim that he lives a sheltered insular lifestyle, and is not familiar with the secular world. The judge then read to him the main points of the appeal.

The chief defense lawyer rose and argued before the judge for 20 minutes. This is quite unusual in Japan, as lawyers usually just read from a prepared document. Then a second lawyer on the defense team rose and discussed some of the issues with the original verdict for another 20 minutes. 

One of his main points centered around the polygraph test that the three boys had been given. At the original trial, the prosecution had brought a witness, a woman who had administered the polygraph test. She insisted that the test was unreliable. However, her own testimony proved not to be dependable because she kept changing her opinion in court.  Apparently,  the judge accepted her testimony anyway. 

The defense then brought two expert witnesses on polygraph testing who testified that all three boys passed their tests 100%, which proves indisputably that they are innocent.  Interestingly, the original judge did not mention a word about the polygraph test in his verdict, a glaring and telling omission. Now the defense lawyers requested to present new witnesses and evidence that had not been allowed in the original trial.

The prosecution sat quietly during the testimony and did not protest.  When the defense was done the prosecutor simply rose and said, “I reject” with no explanation.  His written document to the court also stated that he felt it was unnecessary to revisit the matter.  The judges then took an 8-10 minute break.  When they returned they declared that they had decided not to allow any further evidence or witnesses. 

It is unclear what the judges’ intentions are.  Do they feel that they understand the situation fully and don’t need any more testimony?  Or is something else going on?

At a post-hearing conference, the defense team decided to submit further proof about the polygraph test.  No date was set for the second hearing or for a verdict, but it was decided that the matter would be settled some time n December.

Meanwhile, the community is urged to continue davening on behalf of Yaakov Yosef ben Raizel Grunwald and the other boys.  According to R’Naftoli Steiner, an askan involved in the case, “We have placed advertisements in the media about our so-called ‘Japanese Auction’ to raise funds on behalf of our boys’ defense.  Please respond generously as it is only through the donations of klal yisroel that we can hire the best legal defense team possible.  Our goal is to bring our boys home as soon as we can.”

Meanwhile, we received the following first-person account from R’Aron Nezri, an askan involved in the case:

“I went to visit Yaakov Yosef at 4:00 PM on Monday November 1st.  He had already traveled back to Chiba from Tokyo and he was in high spirits.  I thought I will come to give him chizuk but it seemed that he, instead, wanted to give us all chizuk.  When I walked into the meeting room, he greeted me with, ‘Boruch Haboh m’Bais Hashem, Boruch Haboh Beshem Hashem.’  It was his way of saying that Hashem was with him in court and whatever the outcome will be is in the hands of Hashem.  “He then showed me something from the sefer Noam Elimelech which seemed to be relevant to today’s hearing. 

“He told me what happened that morning.  The guards told him that he should be ready at 8:25 AM to go to Tokyo.  He was taken to the prison bus at 8:35 accompanied by three officers.  They told him that it was very unusual for them to be going to Tokyo and the driver himself didn’t even know the route to get to the courthouse. 

“Yaakov Yosef suffered terribly through that ride.  As always he was handcuffed with metal cuffs and a thin rope which was connected to the cuffs was bound around his body.  Usually, it’s only a seven minute ride to the Chiba District Court, but this time the ride was much longer and he was feeling very sick.  He nearly vomited due to the strain of the rope on his stomach.  Aside from this the windows were closed and it was very stuffy.  He begged them to open the window which they did when they saw what a bad state he was in.  He asked for a bottle of water, but the guards refused to give him any.  Finally he asked for the water bottle which had been saved for his lunch.  They told him he could have it but that he would then not be able to have water at the lunch break.

“Now I understood why he wasn’t his usual cheerful self when the trial began that morning. He nebach suffered for an hour and a half on that bus!  Still, he assured me that he’s feeling strong and that he is full of emunah and bitachon.”

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