By ERI NIIYA/ Staff Writer
August 12, 2021 at 14:06 JST
The Judge Impeachment Court has suspended a high court judge from the bench until it hands down a ruling over social media posts he made that were deemed "offensive," which resulted in his impeachment.
The Diet’s Judge Indictment Committee impeached Kiichi Okaguchi, 55, a judge with the Sendai High Court, in June for posting a series of controversial messages concerning individuals involved in criminal and civil suits on social media.
The judge impeachment law stipulates that the Judge Impeachment Court can suspend an impeached judge from duty if it finds it appropriate to do so. In the past nine cases where judges were impeached, all were suspended from the bench.
The court’s latest decision is dated July 29, but no date has been set for Okaguchi’s trial.
The Judge Impeachment Court trial will be open to the public and 14 Diet members will hear the case. A two-thirds majority of those members is required to remove Okaguchi from his post.
Okaguchi would have no avenue for appeal if he is removed from the bench, and he will automatically lose his certification to work in the legal profession.
Okaguchi has been disciplined by the courts for a number of social media posts in the past.
The Tokyo High Court reprimanded him for a post in December 2017, when he was a judge on the high court, regarding a female high school student who was murdered. The Supreme Court also cautioned Okaguchi over a message in 2019 directed at her family members who criticized the post.
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Kiichi Okaguchi, who was a judge on the Tokyo High Court at the time, speaks about the Supreme Court's decision to caution him for a controversial social media post he made at a news conference in Tokyo in October 2018. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
