July 21, 2022

The Yamaguchi Prefectural Committee of the Japanese Communist Party on July 20 issued a statement opposing the holding of a "prefectural funeral" to praise former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

Muraoka Tsugumasa, governor of the late Abe's constituency of Yamaguchi, on July 15 told the press that he intends to hold a funeral funded by prefectural people's tax money for former PM Abe after a state funeral hosted by the central government.

The statement says that the JCP Yamaguchi Prefectural Committee has expressed its mourning for Abe who was shot to death. However, it points out, "To hold a 'prefectural funeral' would be tantamount to giving official support to and praise for Abe's political ideology."

The statement opposes the holding of a prefectural funeral by stating that expressing condolences is something that one expresses of one’s own free will and that de facto imposition by the prefectural government onto prefectural people to show their support to Abe would violate the right to freedom of conscience.