岡口判事を訴追、弾劾裁判へ　ＳＮＳに不適切投稿―国会委員会

　ツイッターに不適切な投稿をしたとして訴追請求された仙台高裁の岡口基一判事（５５）について、国会の裁判官訴追委員会（委員長・新藤義孝衆院議員）は１６日、罷免を求め、弾劾裁判所に訴追する決定をした。訴追決定は２０１２年以来で１０件目。会員制交流サイト（ＳＮＳ）の投稿を理由に訴追されたのは初めて。
　近年の訴追は刑事事件で有罪となったケースに限られており、岡口判事は訴追委の聴取に「表現の自由の一環として保護されるべきだ」などと不訴追を求めていた。これまでの訴追９件のうち７件は弾劾裁判で裁判官が罷免されている。
　この日の訴追委には２０人の委員全員が出席し、３分の２以上が訴追に賛成した。決定後、新藤委員長は「具体的な根拠は弾劾裁判で明らかにする。慎重かつ積極的に議論を行った結果だ」と述べた。
　岡口判事は１７年、東京都江戸川区の女子高生殺害事件に関し「無残にも殺されてしまった」などと投稿。１８年には、飼い犬の所有権をめぐる訴訟について「あなたこの犬を捨てたんでしょ？」と投稿し、遺族らが国会に訴追請求した。（2021/06/16-21:31）

A committee of the Diet, Japan's parliament, has decided to file an accusation with the Judge Impeachment Court against a high court judge for his dismissal over his inappropriate Twitter posts.
   The judge prosecution committee's decision on the action against Kiichi Okaguchi, 55, a judge at Sendai High Court in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, was made on Wednesday. This was the 10th judge prosecution decision made by the committee and the first since 2012. Okaguchi is the first judge to face accusation over a social media post.
   Okaguchi had asked the parliamentary committee not to bring his case to the impeachment court, stating in hearings by the panel that his right to post comments should be protected as part of freedom of expression.
   In recent years, the committee has only sought impeachment of judges convicted in criminal trials. Seven of the nine judges who faced impeachment trials in the past were dismissed by the court.
   All 20 members of the Diet committee attended Wednesday's meeting over Okaguchi's case, and more than two-thirds of them agreed to seek the impeachment of the judge. The committee is headed by Yoshitaka Shindo, a lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the parliament.