The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday overturned a district court decision that the government pay damages to a Myanmar man for once rejecting his request for refugee status and detaining him, saying the action was lawful.
Presiding Judge Nobuo Akatsuka said the burden of proof should lie with the person seeking to become a refugee, and that the truth about persecution in his homeland is not something that can be verified immediately by a third party.
The man, who now lives in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, and whose name is being withheld, has been granted refugee status in the course of the court proceedings but nonetheless sued the government for compensation for the detention.