百日裁判申し立て検討　河井案里氏陣営の選挙違反―連座制適用も・広島地検

　自民党の河井案里参院議員（４６）＝広島選挙区＝の陣営をめぐる選挙違反事件で、広島地検が河井氏の公設第２秘書立道浩容疑者（５４）らを近く公選法違反罪で起訴し、連座制の適用に向け迅速な判決を求める「百日裁判」を広島地裁に申し立てる方向で検討していることが２０日、関係者への取材で分かった。
　公選法には、買収など悪質な選挙違反で秘書や、選挙を実質的に取り仕切る「総括主宰者」らの有罪が確定した場合、候補者本人が関与していなくても当選が無効となる連座制の規定がある。
　地検は３日、昨年７月の参院選でウグイス嬢１４人に、法定上限（日当１万５０００円）を超える計２０４万円を支払った同法違反（運動員買収）容疑で立道容疑者や河井氏の夫の河井克行前法相（５７）の政策秘書高谷真介容疑者（４３）ら３人を逮捕した。
　陣営関係者らによると、立道容疑者は運動員との調整を担い、案里氏の当選後に秘書になった。高谷容疑者は案里氏の街頭演説の手伝いなどに従事していたといい、地検は３人のいずれかが、連座制の適用対象者に当たるとの見方を強めたもようだ。（2020/03/20-21:53）

Japanese prosecutors are set to indict soon a secretary to lawmaker Anri Kawai and two others for their alleged violation of an election law while considering requesting a court to conclude their trials and issue rulings early with the possibility of applying for the guilt-by-association system in mind, it was learned Friday.
   Under the guilt-by-association system, stipulated in the public offices election law, a candidate's winning of an election will be invalidated if his or her secretary or a key election campaign organizer is convicted in a serious law violation case, such as vote-buying, even if the candidate was not involved in the misconduct.
   The Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors Office plans to apply for the quick trial procedures under a provision of the law with Hiroshima District Court, sources familiar with the matter said.
   The suspects to be indicted soon by the prosecutors office in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, include Hiroshi Tatemichi, 54, a government-paid secretary to Kawai, and Shinsuke Takaya, 43, a policy secretary to Kawai's husband, Katsuyuki. Anri, 46, is a lawmaker of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, while Katsuyuki, 57, former justice minister, is a member of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, with both belonging to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
   The prosecutors office arrested the three people on March 3 on suspicion of paying 14 staff women of Anri's campaign team more than the legal limit of 15,000 yen per day during the Upper House election in July 2019 in violation of the election law. A total of 2.04 million yen was paid to the staff members. Anri won an Upper House seat for the first time in the poll.