Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Councilors Satsuki Katayama sued a publisher for defaming her reputation in a weekly magazine article. Contrary to the 1st trial, the court admitted the complaint and ordered compensation of 3.3 million yen.
"Weekly Bunshun" published in October 2018, Satsuki Katayama, a member of the House of Councilors and a man who was a private secretary, was asked by a company manager to persuade the national tax authorities to continue preferential treatment in the tax system. It was reported that he had received the yen, and Katayama asked the publisher, Bungeishunju, for damages, saying, ``There was no truth to the matter and the reputation was hurt.''
Last year, the first trial dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that ``although the content of the article has not been proven to be true, there are sufficient grounds to believe that the publisher had a hand in the matter''. I was appealing.
In the judgment of the second trial on the 27th, presiding judge Kazuko Yao of the Tokyo High Court said, ``It is an objective fact that supports the facts about important parts such as the lawmaker trying to receive 1 million yen and trying to make a phone call. There is no solid evidence and the article cannot be accepted as true."
After that, she said, ``I had to carefully consider the credibility of the statements of the people involved, considering the unnaturalness. was ordered to pay compensation of 3.3 million yen.
The editorial department of Weekly Bunshun commented, ``I have to say that the high court decision is incomprehensible.