Gunma Disabled Man Files Criminal Complaint Over Online Abuse After Being Called “socially unacceptable” During Civil Lawsuit

By Barrier Free Japan, Bengo4.com via Yahoo! Japan

January 29 2024

Maebashi City, Gunma Pref – A man in his 40s who is severely disabled, filed a criminal complaint against an online contributor in Tokyo for defamation and insult on December 18, 2023.

Prior to the criminal complaint, the man filed a civil suit against the online poster, seeking compensation for damages, and the Maebashi District Court ordered him to pay approximately 960,000 yen on December 8, 2023.

The criminal complaint was filed because the online contributor submitted a written defense in the civil trial, stating that the man was “such a socially unacceptable item”.

The man, who has vertebral osteodystrophy, a disease that causes bone deformities, filed a mandatory lawsuit against Maebashi City in Gunma Prefecture, where he lives, demanding 24-hour nursing care services, and a series of slanderous remarks were made on the Internet.

Under these circumstances, the man also filed a civil suit for damages against the Aichi Prefecture-based poster who wrote on an Internet bulletin board, “There is no reason to keep him alive. Kill him once and for all,” and on January 24, the Maebashi District Court handed down a judgment ordering him to pay a total of 600,000 yen.

According to the complaint, on June 28, 2023 at the first oral argument in the Maebashi District Court, the online contributor submitted a defense in which he stated that “the plaintiff’s head is completely twisted,” “he is a nuisance even to people with disabilities,” “there is no such a difficult thing to dispose of in society even if you search every corner of the earth,” “one pair of chopsticks or a ballpoint pen that does not produce ink would be better,” etc. The contributor is alleged to have made a pseudo-statement, openly and factually defaming and insulting.

In addition, he is also said to have posted the judgment and the written defense on an X (formerly Twitter) account that appears to have been created by this online poster.

The man decided to file a criminal complaint against the online poster, who showed no signs of remorse or willingness to pay compensation, and wanted to seek severe punishment. It should be noted that the civil judgment also pointed out that the statements in the written answer were “insulting expressions”.

According to the January 24 ruling, Judge Yoshiki Tanaka of the Maebashi District Court found that the postings in question were “insulting” to the man. Even though it was a short sentence and was posted only once, the court ruled that it constituted “hate speech that discriminates against disabled people,” and awarded him 500,000 yen in compensation.

Attorney Jun Shimoyama, who represented the man, commented, “It is very significant that the court found that this post, which completely denies the significance of the plaintiff’s (the man’s) survival, constitutes hate speech that discriminates against disabled people.

Furthermore, Shimoyama said that there had probably never been a court decision that used the term “hate speech that discriminates against the disabled,” and the 500,000 yen compensation fee is also considered high.

Shimoyama believes that “a series of court decisions have made it clear that anyone who engages in ‘hate speech that discriminates against the disabled’ will be subject to severe civil liability, even if it is a short sentence or one time.”

Compensation has yet to be paid.