Hedishi Suzuki, a Japanese national, was arrested on 12 April 1994 as he boarded a Manila-bound flight at Bacolod airport, where officers found about 1.9 kilograms of marijuana in a box of biscuits he was carrying.[1] The Bacolod City Regional Court sentenced him to death on 7 December 1994, making him the first foreigner condemned since capital punishment was restored in the Philippines and the fifteenth person sentenced overall.[1] The trial judge said Suzuki, having committed a crime lawmakers defined as heinous, had forfeited his human right to exist.[1]
Amnesty International warned the trial may have been prejudiced because Suzuki did not speak or read English and was reportedly interrogated without an interpreter and made to sign documents he could not understand.[1] Possession of 750 grams or more of marijuana then carried the death penalty.[1]
Sentence reduced on review
On automatic review, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction on 23 October 2003, finding the airport search of the box marked “Bongbong’s piaya” lawful, but ruled that 1,547.07 grams of dried marijuana fruiting tops did not merit the maximum penalty.[2] It affirmed guilt and modified the sentence to reclusion perpetua, lowering the fine to one million pesos.[2]
