October 15, 1999

The Current Status of the Seattle Incident Case

This is the fourth year in the ongoing Seattle Incident trial, which started in Tokyo in 1995. The trial stems from a defamation lawsuit filed by Nikken and Nichiren Shoshu against the Soka Gakkai and its publications in 1993.

In order to prove he has been libeled, Nikken must convince the court that Mrs. Hiroe Clow?s account of his March 1963 encounter with prostitutes in Seattle is untrue. Mrs. Clow?s account was carried in Soka Gakkai publications, which led to this suit.

On Aug. 10, a special edition of Daibyakuho, the temple members? newspaper in Japan, attempted to discount the testimony in the trial of former Seattle police officer Ronald Sprinkle, a defense witness who was one of the two officers that detained Nikken that evening. Mr. Sprinkle?s testimony corroborated Mrs. Clow?s story. According to Nikken?s attorneys, however, Officer Sprinkle was not with the Seattle Police Department but the Air Force at the time of the incident.

Recently, there have been two developments in the Seattle Incident case:

1) On Sept. 28 in the Seattle Incident Trial in Tokyo, Soka Gakkai attorneys presented evidence refuting Nichiren Shoshu?s claim that defense witness and former Seattle police officer Ronald Sprinkle was not present at the site of the Seattle Incident in March 1963 because he was on active military duty.

2) In a separate case, the United States District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle, on Sept. 27 denied Nichiren Shoshu?s Aug. 26 motion requesting monetary sanctions against Mr. Sprinkle for purported “perjury.”