2003 JAPAN LAW: YOKOHAMA INCIDENT
Keywords: Freedom of the Press, Peace Preservation Law, Sovereign Immunity
Copyright 2004. All rights reserved Attorney Roderick H. Seeman
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In April 2003, the Yokohama District Court agreed to reopen a case from the immediate post war period, known as the “Yokohama Incident” involving the arrest of more than 60 people for writing articles in a magazine in the immediate post war period. The arrests were based on the 1925 Peace Preservation Law prohibiting antiestablishment activity and was a key law used for repressive activities. The law was abolished officially in October 1945, but the defendants had been arrested based on the law before October but after Japan’s surrender in mid-August 1945. This was the fourth attempt on this kind of case to overturn their convictions, with one case even reaching the Supreme Court. The argument of the plaintiffs in this case was that the law became invalid with Japan’s acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration on August 14, 1945.