A 21-year-old Vietnamese technical trainee has been convicted by the Fukuoka District Court for abandoning the body of a stillborn infant, highlighting systemic issues in Japan’s technical trainee program. The defendant, Nguyen Thi Quyet, was sentenced on March 7 to 18 months in prison with a three-year suspended sentence.
The court found that Quyet gave birth alone in the toilet of her boyfriend’s home in February last year and placed the deceased infant in a white plastic bag, which she then put into a kitchen garbage bin. A cake box was placed on top of the bin, making the body difficult to detect. The court ruled this constituted “intentional concealment,” fulfilling the legal definition of abandonment of a corpse.
While the defense argued that the act was temporary and not intended as abandonment, the court concluded that the placement and concealment showed clear intent. The judges also stated that the manner in which the body was handled did not align with religious burial practices and treated the infant “as if it were ordinary waste.”
The defendant had not disclosed her pregnancy, fearing that discovery would result in forced repatriation under the conditions of the technical trainee system. The court acknowledged the emotional and psychological pressure she faced, noting that her actions stemmed from isolation and fear, but still ruled the act punishable.
Human rights advocates criticized the ruling, stating that the case reflects broader structural problems in Japan’s technical trainee program, where women lack access to reproductive healthcare and fear dismissal or deportation upon pregnancy. The defense emphasized that social support—not criminal punishment—was needed in such cases. Sources: Japan Today / KBC / TNC
Photo by Ömürden Cengiz on Unsplash
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