A Japanese court on Friday ordered the government to pay ¥1.65 million ($11,500) in damages to the bereaved family of a Cameroonian man who died while being detained in an immigration control facility in Ibaraki Prefecture.
The bereaved family of the man, who died at age 43 in the Higashi-Nihon Immigration Center in Ushiku in March 2014, had demanded that the government pay ¥10 million in damages, alleging that immigration officials failed to send him to a medical institution despite his claims of ill health.
The ruling "confirmed that it is but natural to send someone who is suffering to the hospital," said the defense counsel, describing it as a "breakthrough" that the court determined the state had the duty of care over the man.