‘Help Miura’ t-shirts eyed to fund defense

A Japanese businessman on Saipan wants to help Kazuyoshi Miura with his extradition case and is planning to come up with t-shirts that he will sell, with part of the proceeds going toward a Miura defense fund.

Keizo Ishida, general manager of the Anies Imuza gift shop, said he is compelled to help Miura because what is happening reflects badly on the Japanese judicial system.

“Miura was found not guilty by the Tokyo High Court in 1998, with the full support of the U.S. government. Yet he was arrested on Saipan and he is still locked up until now,” said Ishida, speaking through an interpreter. “If this kind of unfairness is acceptable, then our Japan judicial system will be useless.”

He pointed out that Miura has already been found not guilty in Japan, so his arrest implies that the Japanese high court made the wrong decision in the case. “Because of this matter, I am planning to support Mr. Miura’s lawyer[s] on Saipan and Los Angeles,” he said.

Ishida said he came up with this idea of making the Miura t-shirts and donating part of the sale to Miura’s lawyers.

He said he has already written to Miura to broach the idea but he has yet to obtain a response. “I am currently waiting for Mr. Miura’s official approval through his lawyers to sell the t-shirts.”

Ishida said that, as soon as he gets Miura’s go-signal, he will immediately get to work on the t-shirts.

He plans to sell the shirts for about $18, with $8 going toward the cost of producing the shirts. The remaining $10 will be split, with $5 going to the Miura legal defense fund.

“Our goal is to sell about 1,000 t-shirts and give $5,000 to the lawyers of Mr. Miura,” Ishida said.

Ishida showed the Saipan Tribune a sample of the shirt he plans to sell. Colored orange, it features the face of Miura in front, while the back shows the acronym DOC and the words “double jeopardy” in both English and Japanese languages. The sentence “Can you help!!!” in capital letters is printed on the sleeve.

Taotao Tano CNMI Inc. president Greg Cruz said he supports Ishida’s goals, as “this is about the honor and reputation of his country.”

“Because of the federal issue here, a lot of bad things have been said about our homeland, a lot of reputation has been created all the way to the U.S. mainland; that’s the reason why I’m fighting, that reputation that has been left in our homeland. I support Mr. Ishida because I believe in what he’s fighting for, it’s all about honor,” said Cruz.

Miura was arrested at the Saipan International Airport on Feb. 22, 2008, in the murder of his wife in Los Angeles 27 years ago.

Miura, 60, had already been convicted in Japan in 1994 of the murder of his wife, Kazumi Miura. The verdict, however, was overturned by Japan’s high courts 10 years ago.

The case has been revived, resulting in Miura’s latest arrest and efforts by the Los Angeles Police Department to extradite him to the U.S. mainland. [B][I](Saipan Tribune)[/I][/B]