Photo/Illutration Kiichi Okaguchi listens to the indictment against him at the Judge Impeachment Court session on March 2. (Illustration by Kageyoshi Koyanagi)

A highly unusual impeachment of a suspended high court judge began on March 2 over “offensive” tweets, but legal experts said his actions will likely not lead to his removal from the bench.

Kiichi Okaguchi, 56, is the ninth judge to be impeached in Japan. Seven of the eight past jurists were removed from their posts for abusing their positions to commit illegal acts or were found guilty of criminal offenses.

The “crime” committed by Okaguchi was to post social media messages that offended some people.

Okaguchi appeared at the Judge Impeachment Court and apologized for the messages in his opening statement.

“I offer my sincerest apology for the inappropriateness of the acts of expression I conducted,” he said.

But his lawyers later argued that although the messages may have been inappropriate, Okaguchi never intended to disparage anyone.

The Judge Indictment Committee found 13 tweets and statements made at news conferences by Okaguchi as acts that greatly hurt the dignity of a judge.

Takatsugu Tsuchiya, a professor of constitutional law at Kindai University, doubted that such comments would be enough to remove Okaguchi as a judge.

“It will be difficult to make a decision regarding something he did as a private individual on social media,” Tsuchiya said. “Judges also have freedom of expression so I have doubts about whether he should be removed.

“At the same time, the recent social trend is to deal strictly with human rights violations caused by messages on social media, so there will likely be a divergence among those deciding the case,” Tsuchiya said.

Okaguchi has tweeted under his real name since 2008. Initially, he often took the side of those in weak positions in society, such as victims of hate speech.

But he has also been disciplined by courts for a number of social media posts, including one in December 2017 regarding a female senior high school student who was murdered. He also got in trouble for a post in May 2018 about ownership of a pet dog.

In November 2019, Okaguchi was cautioned for a message directed at the murder victim’s bereaved family members, who then filed a request to have him impeached, saying they were deeply hurt by his words.

The Judge Impeachment Court will be open to the public, and 14 Diet members will hear the case. A two-thirds majority of those members will be required to remove Okaguchi from his post.

Okaguchi would have no avenue for appeal if he is removed, and he will automatically lose his certification to work in the legal sector.

But at the first session, Okaguchi’s lawyers pointed out that the statute of limitations of three years had already expired for four of the 13 messages found to be offensive.

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