Decision on Impartiality of Trial

Tokyo District Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit of plaintiffs who argued they had been disturbed their right to have impartial trial on Sunagawa Incident in 1957, in which students were arrested with suspicion of trespassing on the base of United States Force. While former defendants of the incident, reversing their status now, argued that the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court at the time had communicated with US side before sentencing, the district court found that the decision of the Supreme Court cannot be said as not impartial. The plaintiffs decided to appeal to high court.

In 1957, twenty-three protesters, mostly the college students, were arrested with suspicion of entering a USF base in Sunagawa town, currently Tachikawa city, during their demonstration against expanding the base. Seven among them were indicted. Tokyo District Court found those seven defendants were innocent in 1959, because for US Force to station in Japan violates Article 9 of Constitution of Japan. Then, the Supreme Court rapidly overturned that decision in the same year and it was fixed.

 

It was in 2008 when documents indicating secret connection between the Supreme Court and US government was found in US National Archives. According to a report of Tokyo Shimbun, then US Ambassador to Japan met with Minister for Foreign Affairs the next day Tokyo District Court sentenced innocent in 1959, and recommended to jump up to the Supreme Court skipping appeal court.

 

Then, the Ambassador met with Chief Justice, Kotaro Tanaka, and Tanaka told the Ambassador that the decision of the district court on a dispute over the Constitution of Japan had been wrong. Tanaka also showed his idea to US Minister to Japan that he wanted to avoid any minor opinion which would shake the public in Japan. After those meetings, Tanaka issued the sentence preferable to US, with a reason that highly political issue would not fit for judicial decision.

 

The defendants argued that it was inappropriate for a chief justice to discuss judicial process before sentencing, making the decision impartial. Three out of seven defendants filed a lawsuit in 2019. Tokyo District Court did not recognize that the Chief Justice had told to US side the substance of internal discussion or presumable decision coming up, and did not decide that the trial had not been impartial.

 

The plaintiffs see this issue as matter of separation of powers. It was the time of reviewing Japan-US Security Treaty when the Chief Justice and the US Ambassador were discussing a lawsuit which questioned the legitimacy of US Force in Japan. The consultation explains a vulnerability of judicial power to politics in the early post-war Japan. The high court needs to take a deeper look into the details to realize whether those declassified documents indicate impartiality of trial or not.

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