(Update) Ex-Exec of Aichi Governor Recall Campaign Found Guilty

   Nagoya, April 19 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese court on Friday found a former senior member of a group seeking the recall of Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura guilty of forging signatures for the campaign, in violation of the local autonomy law.
   Yoichi Omura, presiding judge at Nagoya District Court, sentenced Takahiro Tanaka, the 62-year-old former chief of the group secretariat, to two years in prison, suspended for four years. Prosecutors had demanded two years in prison.
   Tanaka's act is "a vicious crime that could undermine society's trust in the recall system, which is indispensable for realizing local autonomy, and shake the management of local autonomy itself," the judge said.
   According to the ruling, Tanaka colluded with others to forge signatures by having three part-time workers copy by hand the names of 71 voters onto signature lists in the southwestern prefecture of Saga in October 2020.

(2024/04/19-19:03)