Japan Press Weekly

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2016 August 3 - 9 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Police illegally monitors union activists

Akahata learned on August 3 that Oita police secretly videotaped the people going in and out of a labor union building in Beppu City in the prefecture. This has provoked criticism as violation of privacy and undue interference in union activities.

The owner of the building in question is a local branch of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo). A building maintenance worker on July 23 discovered two spy cameras which were pointed at the building’s entrance and parking lot. When the building owner reported to the local police about the cameras, the police answered that it placed the cameras there as part of its investigation activities.

Tenants of this building include Rengo unions and civil groups both of which worked hard for the victory of a joint opposition candidate in the July Upper House election.

Human rights lawyer Ishizaki Kazuhiko pointed out that the police entered the premises of the union’s building to film the entrance and exit of people without legitimate reasons, which constitutes intelligence activities for a political purpose and not as part of any criminal investigation.

Ishizaki cited the fact that during the pre-war period, under the 1925 Public Order Maintenance Law, special “political” police spied not only on supposed anti-government people but also on those who said something critical of the government. He expressed his concern that since Prime Minister Abe took office, the police appears to be increasing its activities of monitoring and collecting information on the public. He stressed the necessity to uncover the real situation in regard to this matter.