Court rejects appeal by public worker delivering JCP fliers

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Court rejects appeal by public worker delivering JCP fliers

The Tokyo High Court on May 13 unjustly dismissed Ujibashi Shin’ichi’s appeal and ordered him to pay the 100,000 yen fine imposed by the Tokyo District Court. Ujibashi and his lawyers immediately appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.

Ujibashi, who was an employee of the Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry at the time, was convicted by the Tokyo District Court for violating the National Public Service Law because he distributed an Akahata extra during his day off in the 2005 general election campaign. He appealed the district court decision to the Tokyo High Court.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi later on the same day released the following statement:

“The Tokyo High Court unjustifiably rejected Ujibashi’s appeal. The JCP strongly protests that the high court ruling ignores the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Japanese Constitution.

Early this year, the high court made the completely opposite decision on a similar case to Ujibashi. Although former government employee Horikoshi Akio, who did the same as Ujibashi, was convicted by the district court, the high court overturned the conviction because the lower court decision based on the National Public Service Law was unconstitutional. The ruling states that Horikoshi’s action did not t affect his work and, in light of people’s common sense, did not undermine the neutrality of administrative management and the public trust. The ruling also mentioned the need for a revision of the civil service law which bans public employees’ engagement in political activities. In this respect, the high court decision in Ujibashi’s case is totally out of line.

It is unconstitutional that the national public service law and the National Personnel Authority regulation uniformly prohibit public servants from participating in political activities, and that the two rules have been applied to both the Horikoshi and Ujibashi cases. The JCP will continue to struggle to establish the civil and political freedom of public workers.”

- Akahata, May 14, 2010