'I distributed bills to attack the JCP'--Soka Gakkai member's confession

Several Soka-Gakkai members have admitted to distributing flyers produced with the aim of slandering the Japanese Communist Party. In a rare move, they have told what they did to entrap the JCP. Akahata reported this on October 8.

Soka Gakkai is an anti-communist religious organization known as the parent organization of the Komei Party, a Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition partner implementing undemocratic policies. It has often been criticized for its underhanded methods in attacking the JCP in undercover operations in election campaigns.

A Soka Gakkai member said, "We knew it was illegal, but no one in our group raised an objection. We thought the Communist Party deserves this kind of attack."

Another member said that he also distributed bills slandering former House of Representatives member Kato Koichi (Liberal Democratic Party) who was critical of Soka Gakkai. The man told Akahata that he was ordered to come to Soka Gakkai's district office in the middle of night to distribute about 200 copies of the illegal flyers. He said, "We were told to identify ourselves as from the 'Komei Party Youth Bureau' in case of arrests." (end)