It can be said that the court's decision looked directly at the human rights violations of Hansen's disease patients in the trials.
The ruling was handed down in a lawsuit over the "Kikuchi incident" that happened in Kumamoto Prefecture about 70 years ago. The Kumamoto District Court pointed out that special courts set up at the National Sanatorium Kikuchi Keifuen for leprosy patients and in other quarantined places "violated the Constitution that guarantees equality before the law."
Special courts held on the grounds of a defendant having leprosy were established in more than 90 cases. In its 2016 report, the Supreme Court acknowledged that the establishment procedures after the quarantine policy was no longer necessary in 1960 were "in violation of the Court Law," but did not address the unconstitutionality of the procedures.
The Kumamoto District Court's ruling at this time is significant in that it not only mentioned the violation of the Court Law that stipulates court procedures, but also went so far as to address the violation of the Constitution, the nation's top law, which guarantees basic human rights.
In the Kikuchi incident, a man alleged to be a Hansen's disease patient was charged with murder, sentenced to death by a special court and executed in 1962. In the latest suit, residents of Kikuchi Keifuen and others demanded compensation from the central government, saying it was unjust for the prosecution not to seek a retrial over the case.
The ruling dismissed the claim of the plaintiffs as they are not relatives of the man so did not have the right to seek compensation. On the other hand, it stated that "the hearings at the special court represented a discrimination that lacks rationality on the grounds that the defendant was a leprosy patient."
Remove deep-rooted prejudice
In the special court of the Kikuchi incident, judges and prosecutors wore rubber gloves and used chopsticks when handling evidence. The district court's ruling apparently saw as problematic such discriminatory treatment based on prejudice.
It is noteworthy that the ruling said special courts were suspected of violating the principle of open trials under the Constitution.
Special courts are allowed as exceptions only in unavoidable cases, such as when a court suffers a disaster. However, the Supreme Court had allowed the establishment of special courts on the grounds of a defendant having leprosy, without examining the specific circumstances.
Special courts were set up in sanatoriums and other places isolated from society. It is reasonable that the ruling stated, "It was virtually impossible for the general public to visit those places, and it was tantamount to refusing to have them attend the hearings."
The Supreme Court must take the ruling seriously and face up to the mistakes made by the judiciary.
It is said that relatives of the man who was executed in the Kikuchi incident are now unable to come forward for fear of discrimination. The law to restore the honor of former leprosy patients was revised in November last year to include their families.
It is important to wipe away deep prejudice and discrimination over the disease that persists in society.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb. 28, 2020)
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