 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
| |
Jan. 12, 2004 -- No. 185 |
|
|
|
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.
JOURNALIST MASAO OKKOTSU FOUND GUILTY OF LIBEL -- AGAIN
On Dec. 22, 2003, the Tokyo District Court ruled that
Masao Okkotsu was guilty of libeling Gandhi scholar Neelakantha
Radhakrishnan of India in an August 1, 2002 article in
“Forum 21,” a newsletter published by the
defendant. (This follows a decision last May in which
the Tokyo High Court ruled against Otsukotsu in a libel
suit brought by the Soka Gakkai. See JUSTICE CHRONICLE,
No. 182.)
The article in question referred to the plaintiff as “an
embarrassment to the people of India” and other
denigrating descriptions. In his verdict, Justice Yoshihiro
Katayama wrote that the “Forum 21” article
had mistaken the plaintiff for another individual, an
error he found to be “inexcusable” and “libelous.”
Although Prof. Radhakrishan, a recipient of the Gandhi-King-Ikeda
Award, had sought a large monetary settlement, the district
court awarded a reduced amount in light of the newsletter’s
limited circulation.
SUPREME COURT DISMISSES FINAL
NICHIREN SHOSHU APPEAL ON MISHANDLING REMAINS
On Dec. 19, 2003, Japan’s Supreme Court dismissed
a Nichiren Shoshu appeal seeking to overturn an earlier
Tokyo High Court ruling that found head temple Taiseki-ji
had illegally disposed the remains of the deceased kin
of four families. In March 2000, the families filed suit
against the priesthood, including chief administrator
Nikken Abe, upon learning that it had buried, without
their consent or knowledge, some 200 used rice sacks stuffed
with remains in a field within the temple premises. (The
plaintiffs, from Kanagawa, Osaka, Fukuoka and Ehime prefectures,
had entrusted the cremated remains to a Taiseki-ji charnel
house between 1968 and 1977. See JUSTICE CHRONICLE, No.
177.)
While a district court had sided with Nichiren Shoshu,
the Tokyo High Court then overruled the decision in April
2003, ordering the defendant to pay damages to each family
-- which the Supreme Court upheld. The latest ruling was
the third handed down by the highest court in Japan against
Nichiren Shoshu since June 2003.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
