Relatives of convicted editor seek acquittal in 'Yokohama Incident'

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YOKOHAMA, Feb. 17 Kyodo - The Yokohama District Court on Tuesday held a one-day hearing on the ''Yokohama
Incident,'' often described as Japan's worst case of repression of free speech
during World War II, with relatives of a deceased convicted journalist seeking
his acquittal.

At the retrial for Yasuhito Ono, an editorial staff member of the magazine
''Kaizo'' (Reform), who was found guilty of breaching the now-defunct Peace
Preservation Law aimed at cracking down on communist and antiwar sentiment, his
daughter Nobuko Saito and son Shinichi Ono showed video footage to illustrate
how their father had been tortured by special police officers into making false
confessions.
Ono's wife Sada and others also convicted in the Yokohama Incident, all of whom
have already passed away, appeared in the video, saying some had been tortured
for about three months.
''If proven not guilty, the ruling will help restore the lost honor not only of
the defendant but also of our nation's judicial system,'' said Takashi Okawa, a
lawyer representing Ono.
Shinichi, 62, also read his father's oral statement, in which he stated that he
had confessed to the special police out of fear of further torture.
''I have not experienced (what my father was put through) so I tried my best to
read (the statement) using my imagination,'' Shinichi said.
In its decision to retry the case, the court expressed doubt over the
credibility of Ono's confessions, determining it was ''new evidence that could
help the court hand down a not-guilty verdict.''
''After attending the retrial court, my confidence that we will achieve a
not-guilty ruling has increased,'' Nobuko Saito, 59, said at a press conference
after the court was adjourned.
Ono was among about 60 people arrested between 1942 and 1945 for breaching the
Peace Preservation Law, of whom around 30 were convicted, and his two children
filed the petition for the retrial in March 2002 with the district court, which
accepted it last October.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, asked the court to dismiss the case because the law and
charges involved have become defunct, while they did not refer to the measures
taken by the special police.
''I was disappointed that the prosecutors didn't apologize (for the acts of the
special police),'' said Shinichi.
The retrial petition was the fourth such request presented by the bereaved
family members of those convicted in the case, in a bid to restore their lost
honor.
Last March, the Supreme Court terminated a retrial, without any verdict, of
another five men convicted in the ''Yokohama Incident,'' ruling, ''A court is
obliged to terminate court deliberations in the event of the abolition of a
penalty or if an amnesty is granted, and no appeal may be filed against a
decision for such termination.''
Speculation is running high that the Yokohama District Court will dismiss Ono's
case against the backdrop of the top court's decision when it hands down the
ruling at 10 a.m. on March 30.
Ono was arrested in 1943 for publishing an article promoting communism and was
given a suspended two-year prison term in September 1945. He died in January
1959 at the age of 51.
The Yokohama Incident refers to a series of repressive measures carried out by
the special police against more than 60 people who the police claimed had
published pro-communist articles in Kaizo during the war.
Among them about 30 were tried under the old Code of Criminal Procedure and
found guilty of violating the Peace Preservation Law.
Most of them were convicted shortly after the war ended and four died during
investigations, apparently as a result of torture.
Prior to the opening of the trial, the Japanese Center of International P.E.N.
issued a statement to urge the judiciary to ''accept and correct its past
miscarriage of justice and to hand down a judgment that reflects the past.''
''The Supreme Court terminated the past retrial (of the Yokohama Incident)
without rescinding the guilty verdicts that had been issued shortly after the
end of the war, and the convicted journalists have been left behind without
being able to settle old scores,'' it said.
==Kyodo