Tokyo High Court abandons responsibility for protecting freedom of speech: JCP

   The Tokyo High Court on December 11, overturning a lower court ruling, found Arakawa Yosei guilty of trespassing while posting Japanese Communist Party fliers and imposed a fine of 50,000 yen. The defendant lawyers’ group immediately filed an appeal to the Supreme Court.

   Arakawa was arrested in December 2004 when he was distributing JCP fliers in the mailboxes of a condominium in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward. He was detained for 23 days and was indicted.

   The high court ruling stated that the Constitution does not provide absolute and unlimited freedom of speech and that the means of expression must not infringe on the property rights of other people. However, the ruling showed no indication at all that the court even examined how Arakawa’s conduct infringed on the “property rights” of the residents.

   The Tokyo District Court in August 2006 acquitted Arakawa recognizing that his conduct constituted nothing illegal on the grounds that posting of fliers at condominiums is not prohibited and because there was no notice of clearly prohibiting such conduct. Anybody, in fact, can freely enter the condominium, and newspapers, postal matter, and parcels are daily there delivered.

   This case is essentially the security police’s crackdown aimed at obstructing the political activities of the JCP as well as citizens’ movements.

   “The Constitution as well as common sense have become ineffective in the Tokyo High Court. Inhibition of the freedom of expression amounts to depriving the freedom of thoughts and beliefs. I will fight to the end against this unjustifiable ruling,” said Arakawa, a Buddhist monk, in a rally held later in the day.

   Arakawa’s lawyers’ group on the same day issued a statement denouncing the high court ruling for infringing on the freedom of speech enshrined in the Constitution. The Japan Religionists’ Council for Peace also issued a statement in protest.

   Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on the same day issued a statement stating, “The Tokyo High Court abandoned its responsibility for protecting freedom of speech and political activities. This unjustifiable ruling is absolutely unacceptable because it runs counter to public opinion demanding the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and expression. Joining forces with Mr. Arakawa, his lawyers, and supporters, the JCP will fight to the end in the appellate trial in order to protect the freedom of distributing fliers and the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech.”
- Akahata, December 12, 2007