Prosecutors drop case of JCP assembly member’s flyer distribution

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Prosecutors drop case of JCP assembly member’s flyer distribution

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office dropped a case against Japanese Communist Party Kokubunji City Assembly member Kono Osamu who had been charged with trespassing after distributing flyers at an apartment building.

On May 18, when Kono, 27, was posting flyers at mailboxes located outside of a self-locking door of the apartment building, a male resident questioned his actions. Residents later reported Kono’s act to the Koganei Police Station, which sent the case to the prosecutors’ office.

In July, residents dropped their claim.

Six lawyers twice submitted a statement to the prosecutors’ office demanding that the charge be dropped.

Kono’s supporters set up an organization calling for the protection of the right to distribute flyers as well as the rights to know and let others know. They made representations to the prosecutors’ office and held street campaigns.

More than 500 signatures collected by labor unions, law offices, and other organizations and more than 500 individual signatures have been collected to press the prosecutors’ office not to indict Kono.

The JCP Kokubunji City Assembly members said that the prosecutors’ decision was a matter of course and that this was made possible by many residents and other people promptly putting up protests. They criticized the case as a major violation of and challenge to the people’s right to know and let others know.

- Akahata, July 18, 2008