District court dismisses wartime suppression case, gives no verdict+

YOKOHAMA, March 30 Kyodo - The Yokohama District Court on Monday dismissed a retrial case of a deceased journalist who was convicted in the ''Yokohama Incident,'' often described as Japan's worst case of repression of free speech during World War II, without
giving a verdict.
The court passed no judgment on whether or not Yasuhito Ono was guilty of
promoting communism in violation of a wartime law aimed at cracking down on
communists, antiwar activists and insurgent activities in the name of
preserving peace and order.
Drawing on a precedent ruling of the Supreme Court, Presiding Judge Takaaki
Oshima said the court has ''no other choice but to dismiss the case'' as it is
obliged to terminate court deliberations in the event of an abolishment of
penalty or if amnesty is granted.
The top court decided last March to terminate a retrial, without a verdict, of
another five men who were also convicted in the wartime free speech suppression
case.
However, the district court expressed understanding that dismissal of the case
would not help the family members of Ono redeem their father's honor, while
suggesting the family members could recover his reputation by suing the state
for redress as provided by law.
''The court ruling is regrettable. However, considering the previous Supreme
Court ruling, the district court judgment could also be evaluated as having
done the best it could do,'' said Takashi Okawa, a lawyer representing Ono's
family.
At a press conference following the adjournment of the court, Ono's two
children also expressed regret, with his 62-year-old son Shinichi saying he is
''filled with resentment.''
Ono's 59-year-old daughter Nobuko Saito showed disappointment and said, ''Our
fight has not been (just about recovering our father's reputation) but the
fight for everyone involved.''
The two children said they will accept the court ruling as final, putting an
end to the series of retrials over the ''Yokohama Incident,'' and that they
will sue the state for redress.
The court decision comes 64 years after Ono, an editorial staff member of the
magazine ''Kaizo'' (Reform), was convicted in September 1945 of breaking the
now-defunct Peace Preservation Law.
The focal point of the latest case was whether the lower court would hand down
a not-guilty verdict and refer to the responsibility of the past judiciary
system, which Oshima refrained from referring to.
During the one-day hearing in mid-February, the defense counsel sought an
acquittal, having Ono's two children show video footage that illustrated how
their father and many others, all of whom have now passed away, had been
tortured by special police officers into making false confessions.
Shinichi read his father's oral statement, in which Ono said he had confessed
to the special police out of fear of further torture. Daughter Nobuko Saito
read a testimonial statement written by her now-deceased mother Sada.
Prosecutors requested that the court dismiss the case because the law and
charges involved have become defunct.
In its decision to retry the case last October, the district court expressed
doubt about the credibility of Ono's confessions, determining the statements
were ''new evidence that could help the court hand down a not-guilty verdict.''
''The then district court may have gotten rid of documents that contain
inconvenient facts,'' the court said in October, adding that it saw the trial
back then as ''based on rough and sloppy procedures.''
Ono was among 60 people arrested between 1942 and 1945 for breaking the Peace
Preservation Law, of whom around 30 were convicted.
While Ono and others convicted in the case were granted amnesty after the law
was abolished in 1945, his two children filed the petition for the retrial in
March 2002 with the district court, which was accepted last October.
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 50.
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.
==Kyodo