Impeachment of Court Judge

It became the eighth case under current constitution for a judge to be discharged by the Impeachment Court in the Diet. A judge affiliated with Sendai Appeals Court, indicted with a charge of harming victim’s family by uploading inappropriate comments on social networking services, was impeached and discharged from the post. The Diet members who dealt with this issue focused on preserving judicial authority based on public confidence.

According to the news reports, the judge uploaded his comments on a murder case in Tokyo and a civil suit on ownership of a dog between 2017 and 2019. The Judge Indictment Committee of the Diet instituted removal proceedings against the judge in 2021, arguing that his comments gave the families pain and opposed trust of the people. The committee concluded that it consisted of a remarkable misconduct.

 

Receiving the indictment from the committee, the Impeachment Court recognized the judge’s misconduct, exceeding the limit of freedom of expression entitled to a judge. “A judge is required to have not only high-level skills on legal decision, but a personality to which it collects respect and confidence of the people,” concluded the court. The court sentenced discharge from the judge with approval of eight judges out of twelve.

 

Lawyers for the defendant argued that the comments had been activities of expression in the social networking services, different from previous cases of discharge which consisted of crimes. Among the cases of impeachment and discharge of judges were sabotages in investigation, a reception from a related party or sexual harassments. Some legal experts have been opposing the indictment as not balanced between the deeds and penalty.

 

Noticing no malicious intention and influence from cognitive dysfunction of the defendant, the Impeachment Court focused on betrayal against confidence of the people. The court applied a condition for discharge, which was “misconduct which remarkably loses dignity as a judge.” The court dismissed an argument about the balance with past sentences, because the case was mainly about the posts on social networking services and unprecedented.

 

The Impeachment Court, consisted of fourteen lawmakers, accumulated fifteen trials for two years. It took time for the Judge Impeachment Committee to collect evidences for the suit. The legal experts were frustrated with the sentence, arguing that a decision should be made based on motivation or purpose of illegal activities. They are worried about threat against independence of judiciary.

 

But, the victim’s father in the murder case, who requested impeachment of the judge, hoped court judges to sincerely accept the sentence and not to harm any people anymore. It must be an unacceptable argument that a judge can post anything on the internet, as far as it would not violate any law, even how it insults innocent people.