 Activists who distributed anti-SDF dispatch flier found not guilty The court has absolved three people of a charge that they trespassed on Self-Defense Forces property to distribute fliers at housing units in opposition to the dispatch of the SDF to Iraq. In the ruling on December 16 at the Tokyo District Court Hachioji branch, the judge stated that the distribution of leaflets is "an act in conformity with the constitutional freedom of political expression." The three activists were arrested in February on suspicion of trespassing on the property of an SDF apartment building in Tokyo's Tachikawa City to put anti-SDF dispatch fliers into mailboxes. In the hearing, prosecutors argued that the three persons' action should be recognized as vicious trespassing. Activists' lawyers insisted that their arrest is in violation of the right to express political belief, which should be guaranteed as the most important freedom of expression. (end) |