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Oct. 20, 2003 -- No. 184 |
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The Justice Chronicle,
provided by Soka Gakkai International-USA, is a free monthly
e-mail in support of the Soka Spirit movement. Soka Spirit
is the SGI's educational effort to create value and deepen
our understanding of Nichiren Buddhism through increased
awareness of issues surrounding the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood
and the spiritual foundation of the SGI movement.
NICHIREN SHOSHU CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR LOSES LIBEL APPEAL,
FINED
On July 15, the Japanese Supreme Court upheld two previous
lower court rulings that found Nichiren Shoshu Chief Administrator
Nikken Abe accountable for libel, and ordered him to pay
damages.
In 1992, Reformist priest Rev. Takudo Ikeda sued Nikken
Abe for comments made at a gathering of some 400 priests
accusing Rev. Ikeda of having accepted money from the
Soka Gakkai to secede from the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood.
It was also stated that Rev. Ikeda was to use part of
these funds to bribe other priests.
The Otsu District Court ruled in favor of Rev. Ikeda in
January 1998, while the Osaka High Court rejected an appeal
from Nikken Abe in December 2000. With the Supreme Court’s
final decision, again in favor of Rev. Ikeda, the case
is now closed.
HIGH COURT FINDS NICHIREN
SHOSHU PRIEST GUILTY OF DEFAMATION
On July 23, Tomohide Chikayama, chief priest of Nichiren
Shoshu’s Byodo-ji Temple in Kishiwada City, Osaka,
and two lay believers decided not appeal a verdict upheld
by the Osaka High Court finding them guilty of willful
defamation against the New Komeito party.
New Komeito filed suit against the three defendants in
2000, after they distributed leaflets in Kishiwada alleging
that the party and Soka Gakkai had conspired to ruin the
reputation of Katsuhiko Shirakawa, a former Liberal Democratic
Party lawmaker, because he has been a strident critic
of New Komeito-Soka Gakkai ties. A lower court trial ruled
that Chikayama gave a false testimony about his knowledge
of the leaflets that were being circulated just prior
to a House of Representative election, an act that was
found to be deliberately malicious.
On July 9, the higher court rejected the plaintiff’s
appeal that they were exercising their rights guaranteed
in the article 21 of the Japanese Constitution, upholding
the lower court decision ordering the plaintiffs to pay
damages.
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