Prime minister sued for unconstitutional Yasukuni Shrine visit

A group of citizens in Osaka, Fukuoka, and Matsuyama On November 1 sued
Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro for visiting Yasukuni Shrine on August 13
in violation of the Constitution.

The number of plaintiffs at Fukuoka District Court in Kyushu was 211, and
639 plaintiffs are with Osaka District Courts. Plaintiffs include bereaved
families of war and North and South Korean people in Japan.

Their complaint was that Koizumi's visit in his capacity as the prime
minister of the cabinet clearly violates the Constitution's Article 20
stipulating the freedom of faith.

Akahata on November 2 reported that the prime minister shrugged off the
news of the civil suits, saying "Nonsense! They (the plaintiffs) are
idiots."

Akahata said that these remarks show the prime minister's lack of
understanding of the constitutional principle of the separation of politics
from religion and his contempt for democracy and the courts.

Akahata said that in spite of the prime minister's visits to China and
South Korea in October and his token expression of "reflection" on Japan's
war of aggression against other Asian countries and its colonial rule, he
now showed that he actually completely lacks any such critical reflection.
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