Japan Press Weekly

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2018 December 5 - 11 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Court prohibits rightist group from disrupting screening of film on ‘comfort women’

The Yokohama District Court on December 6 issued a temporary injunction prohibiting a rightist organization from committing sabotage at a screening of a documentary film regarding the issue of wartime Japanese military “comfort women”.

This court ruling was made in response to an application filed by a civil group in Yokosuka City which plans to hold a screening of the film titled “The Silence” in the city this month. The film was produced by a female film director, Park Soo-nam, who is a second-generation Korean Japanese.

At a press conference after the injunction, the applicant’s lawyer Kanbara Hajime explained that when a screening of “The Silence” took place in Yokohama and Chigasaki cities in October and November, members of the rightist group in question tried to forcibly enter the film screening venues. The lawyer said, “The group’s act is totally unforgivable as it tramples on the constitutional right to freedom of expression and undermines the foundation of a democratic society.” He appreciated the court taking a strict stance opposing such an outrageous act.

The court injunction orders the rightist group to stay at least 300 meters away from the venue on the day of the film screening in Yokosuka City.