Anti-NHK Group Leader Tachibana Indicted for Defamation

Kobe, Nov. 28 (Jiji Press)–The Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office on Friday indicted Takashi Tachibana, leader of a political group criticizing Japan Broadcasting Corp., or NHK, for defaming a former Hyogo prefectural assembly member who apparently committed suicide. Tachibana, 58, was arrested Nov. 9 for allegedly disseminating false information about the victim, Hideaki Takeuchi, then 50, who sat on the prefectural assembly’s special investigation committee on a scandal involving Governor Motohiko Saito. According to the indictment, Tachibana, who heads the group called NHK Party, said on Dec. 13 and 14 last year, during his mayoral election campaign in Osaka Prefecture, near Hyogo, that it was probably true that Takeuchi was under police investigation. In the two days following Takeuchi’s death on Jan. 18, Tachibana spread false information through speech and social media that Takeuchi had been scheduled to be arrested soon. After being arrested, Tachibana admitted making such remarks, according to investigative sources. On Nov. 14, his lawyer said that Tachibana would admit to the alleged libel. Takeuchi resigned from the Hyogo assembly for personal reasons on Nov. 18 last year, the day after Saito was re-elected governor in the race that followed the passage of a no-confidence motion against him. The motion was submitted in response to a document accusing Saito of harassment and other misconduct. Takeuchi died in an apparent suicide at his home. His wife filed a criminal complaint against Tachibana with the Hyogo prefectural police. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]