Anti-NHK Group’s Head Arrested in Libel Case

Kobe, Nov. 9 (Jiji Press)–Police in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, on Sunday arrested Takashi Tachibana, head of a political group that criticizes NHK, also known as Japan Broadcasting Corp., in a libel case in which the victim, a former Hyogo prefectural assembly member, apparently committed suicide in January. Tachibana is suspected of disseminating false information about the victim, Hideaki Takeuchi, who served on the prefectural assembly’s special investigation committee regarding a scandal involving Governor Motohiko Saito. It is unknown whether Tachibana, 58, has admitted to the suspected libel. His arrest came after the police determined that he could run or destroy evidence. It is unusual for police to make an arrest for alleged libel against a deceased person, according to a senior Hyogo police official. In December last year, Tachibana was running in a mayoral election in Osaka Prefecture, east of Hyogo. During a campaign speech, he allegedly said that it was probably true that Takeuchi was being questioned by police. After Takeuchi’s death in January, he argued on social media and in a speech for an election candidate in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, that Takeuchi was set to be arrested. Takeuchi resigned from the Hyogo assembly for personal reasons on Nov. 18 last year, the day after Saito was re-elected governor in the gubernatorial race that followed the passage of a no-confidence motion against him. On Jan. 18, Takeuchi was found unconscious at his home and was later confirmed dead at a hospital. He was 50. At an assembly committee meeting later that month, the Hyogo police department’s head denied the information Tachibana had disseminated about Takeuchi. In June, Takeuchi’s wife submitted a criminal complaint against Tachibana, and the prefectural police received it. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]