Best response to phony arrest is to build stronger JCP

In a major protest against the unjust arrest of a member, the Japanese Communist Party Chiyoda District Committee on March 6 took to the streets in Tokyo to publicize JCP policies, expand Akahata readership, and talk with the people, "The best response to the malicious arrest is to build a stronger JCP," they say.

The Chiyoda District Committee handed out copies of an Akahata extra edition to passers-by in the district's busiest street in protest against the unconstitutional arrest.

A JCP member who had lived through WWII said, "The government has dispatched the Self-Defense Forces to the battlefield in Iraq and arrested a JCP member for suppression. It's like going back to the pre-war period."

Since his arrest, the JCP Chiyoda District Committee has been increasing Akahata circulation, including five new readers in the workplace of the arrested.

It also received a 22 year-old college student as a new JCP member. The student said, "I study the Constitution in the law faculty. I don't understand the reason why the government worker was arrested just for distributing JCP flyers. Listening to newspaper and TV reports, I realized that the JCP is the one party that matches my views."

The Public Security Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on March 3 unconstitutionally arrested 50-year-old Horikoshi Akio, a Social Insurance Agency employee, because he had distributed copies of an Akahata extra during the 2003 November general election. A police squad raided Horikoshi's home as well as six other places, including the JCP Chiyoda District Committee. The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors' Office on March 5 indicted Horikoshi for allegedly violating the National Public Service Law. (end)