Lawyer claims U.S. planned Japan's arrest of ex-chess champ Fischer

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Oct 25, 2004

TOKYO, Oct. 18 Kyodo

Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer's lawyer said Monday that Washington planned Fischer's arrest and detention by Japanese immigration authorities in advance, describing it as a plot for a ''backdoor extradition.''

Richard Vattuone also accused the U.S. State Department of violating Fischer's rights, including forbidding Vattuone to call or cross-examine U.S. government officials as witnesses for a hearing appealing Fischer's passport revocation. Fischer appointed Vattuone as his lawyer Friday.

Vattuone said officials of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo began the hearing Friday at the Japanese detention facility where Fischer is being held prior to Vattuone's arrival. Fischer, on instructions from Vattuone, was absent from the hearing.

At a news conference at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan in Tokyo, Vattuone presented a copy of an internal U.S. government fax as proof the U.S. government was behind Fischer's arrest by Japanese authorities. The U.S. Embassy officials presented the copy of the fax at Friday's hearing.

The fax, dated Nov. 18, 2003, states that the Department of Homeland Security had requested the assistance of the Passport Office ''in effecting the revocation of the passport privileges'' of Fischer ''in order to secure his deportation from the Philippines.''

Fischer was in the Philippines at the time and the document said Philippine law enforcement officials were working with U.S. officials to locate him.

The immigration detention center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, refused to allow Fischer the right to meet with Vattuone to prepare for the hearing because Vattuone is not a Japanese lawyer, Vattuone said.

Fischer has been wanted by the United States since playing and winning $3 million in a historic and controversial match in 1992 in Yugoslavia against his old rival Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. At the time, Yugoslavia was under U.N. sanctions and Washington had barred its nationals from engaging in economic activity there.

Vattuone said that depending on the State Department's actions, Fischer may file a lawsuit in the United States in about six months to a year to appeal the revocation of his passport as unconstitutional and claiming regulations were not followed during the process.

But despite having been detained for about three months, Fischer ''is in great spirits and he is determined to prevail,'' according to supporter John Bosnitch, who visits Fischer regularly at the detention facility.

Japanese immigration authorities arrested Fischer on July 13 at Narita airport outside Tokyo for allegedly traveling on a U.S. passport Washington claims was revoked.

The arrest came as Fischer was on his way to the Philippines after a stay of about 90 days in Japan. He is being held on suspicion of traveling with an invalid passport, but Bosnitch said Fischer was never notified by the U.S. government that his passport was revoked.

Fischer won an injunction in early September against a deportation order from the Japanese Justice Ministry, which rejected his request for political asylum. He remains detained in the immigration center in Ushiku, northeast of Tokyo.