JCP Shii supports ruling and calls for no more Yasukuni visits by prime minister
Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on April 7 published the following comment on the district court ruling that Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine were unconstitutional:
"The Fukuoka District Court on April 7 ruled that Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro's visits to Yasukuni Shrine are in violation of the Constitution's Article 20 Clause 3 which prohibits the state and its organs from being involved in religious activities. In preceding similar lawsuits, courts only cast doubt about the unconstitutionality of the prime minister's Yasukuni visit. This ruling is the first to judge the visits as unconstitutional in a lawsuit filed against the state.
The constitutional ban on religious activity by the state and its organs is based on the remorseful experience Japan had in conducting the war of aggression against Asia in collaboration with Shintoism. The prime minister's visit to Yasukuni Shrine, which served as a spiritual mainstay of the war of aggression and still enshrines Class-A war criminals, contradicts the lessons of history. This is why Mr. Koizumi's Yasukuni visits drew criticism from Asian countries.
The Fukuoka District Court's judgment stands to reason. Mr. Koizumi must abide by the Constitution and must not make another visit to the shrine."
* * *
Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro on the same day said that he won the case because the court denied payment of compensation to the plaintiffs. He said to the reporters that he will make more visits. (end)
