A 25-year-old bookstore employee was sentenced Thursday to a suspended 14-month prison term for drawing antiwar graffiti at a park restroom in Suginami Ward, Tokyo.
Presiding Judge Nobuyuki Kiguchi of the Tokyo District Court, said: "The defendant damaged the appearance of the restroom. He could have used other forms of expression, but he depended on something illegal and has not expressed remorse for what he did."
The sentence was suspended for three years.
The defendant, whose name has not been released, was arrested April 17 immediately after drawing the antiwar messages on the wall on suspicion of damaging the building.
He was ordered to leave the courtroom during his sentencing because of unruly behavior.
His lawyers argued that the indictment was political, and that the graffiti did not damage the building because it did not make it difficult for people to use the restroom.
"The defendant's freedom of expression should be respected," the lawyers argued, urging the court to find him not guilty.
However, Kiguchi ruled that the graffiti would cause uneasiness among people who entered the restroom.
He also said the ownership and management rights of the parties that set up the restroom in the park cannot be violated, and that the defendant had other forms of expression open to him.