Photo/Illutration Takashi Tachibana is sent to prosecutors in Kobe on Nov. 10. (Takayo Oyama)

KOBE--Takashi Tachibana, head of the anti-NHK political party, was arrested on Nov. 9 on suspicion of defaming the character of a Hyogo prefectural assembly member who later committed suicide.

Hyogo prefectural police referred Tachibana, 58, to prosecutors on Nov. 10 but declined to say if the suspect has made any statement about the allegations.

Tachibana is accused of spreading falsehoods on social media about the former assembly member, Hideaki Takeuchi, concerning an internal whistleblower document controversy.

The party leader suggested that Takeuchi was the “mastermind” behind the whistleblower’s allegations of misconduct that effectively forced Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito out of office.

After receiving abuse online, Takeuchi resigned as an assembly member in November last year. But the insults continued and even reached his home.

He committed suicide on Jan. 18 this year at the age of 50.

Following Tachibana’s arrest, Takeuchi’s widow, 50, said at a news conference: “For now, above all, I feel relieved. From here, I want to watch how the investigation proceeds.”

She added: “Various things are still happening in various places, and the turmoil has not settled. But being able to report this (arrest) before my husband’s altar has become a major milestone.”

The widow filed a criminal complaint with prefectural police in June this year accusing Tachibana of defamation.

Tachibana has insisted he is in the right.

“I am grateful because the matter will be clearly settled through the criminal complaint,” he said after the widow’s action. “I will not contest having committed defamation, but I am speaking on the basis of sufficient grounds that will negate illegality.”

Tachibana, whose political party is critical of Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK), has also expressed his intention to run in the mayoral election in Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture, to succeed Maki Takubo, who was ousted over an academic fraud scandal.

He had planned to hold a news conference in Ito on Nov. 10.

Takeuchi had served on the prefectural assembly’s special committee investigating allegations that Governor Saito engaged in workplace bullying and other misconduct.

Although a no-confidence vote in the prefectural assembly pushed Saito out of office, he regained the post in a subsequent election.

Tachibana was a candidate in that election, but he mainly supported Saito’s campaign.

Tachibana was also a candidate in the mayoral election in Izumiotsu, Osaka Prefecture.

According to police, during campaign rallies on Dec. 13 and Dec. 14 last year in Izumiotsu, Tachibana took aim at Takeuchi.

“Assemblyman Takeuchi, who left without saying anything, is super suspicious. It’s probably certain he’s being questioned by police,” Tachibana said.

He continued to imply that Takeuchi was being investigated for wrongdoing.

On Jan. 19 and 20, Tachibana uploaded on social media such posts as: “From around last September, (Takeuchi) was undergoing voluntary questioning from Hyogo prefectural police,” and, “It seems he was scheduled to be arrested tomorrow.”

According to Takeuchi’s widow, libelous statements and abuse flooded in, including mail calling Takeuchi “the mastermind” and demanding he “take responsibility.”

After Takeuchi’s death, the chief of the prefectural police department denied Tachibana’s claims at a prefectural committee session.

In an August news conference, the widow said, “My husband was singled out by Tachibana as the ‘mastermind’ behind the whistleblower document issue, was made a target of people’s hatred, and in despair took his own life.”

Tachibana said on his YouTube channel that there were circumstances that led him to believe that Takeuchi was being questioned by police.

(This article was written by Kai Nemoto and Eri Niiya.)

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