Three former defendants and the eldest daughter of a deceased former defendant convicted of illegally entering a U.S. air base in the western Tokyo suburb of Sunagawa in 1957, filed a petition with the Tokyo District Court on June 17 for a retrial.
On the basis of U.S. documents showing contacts between the Supreme Court chief justice and the U.S. ambassador to Tokyo over the case, the four contend that the head of the top court violated people's right to receive a fair trial.
The district court should squarely examine the documents and make a convincing decision on the case without avoiding the key issue at stake — how the nation's judiciary should maintain its independence.