July 2003 – No. 9
On July 23, Tomohide Chikayama Byodo-ji 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.