The Tokyo District Court ruled Tuesday in favor of the religious group Aleph, formerly known as Aum Shinrikyo, in a lawsuit Aleph had filed against the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and a former head of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Aleph had demanded ¥50 million in damages and an apology for the MPD's announcement in 2010 that Aum Shinrikyo was responsible for the 1995 attempted murder of the national police chief. The court ordered the metropolitan government, which has jurisdiction over the MPD, to pay Aleph ¥1 million in damages and to offer a written apology from the Tokyo governor.
Because the MPD made the announcement despite the fact that no people had been indicted and that the statute of limitations had expired, its act constituted a grave illegality, as the court pointed out. By making the announcement, the MDP ignored and violated the basic principle of the criminal procedure — an act that erodes the public's trust in it.