“Character Assassination” by mass manipulation
As mentioned above, the personal attacks on Sotsuda were made simultaneously and frequently in various places. It is a wonderful team play. The complaint stated, "The defendants felt threatened by the result of Sotsuda’s victory in his divorce trial and tried very hard for it not to be finalized by the Supreme Court as a precedent. Thus, they could prevent public opinion from prohibiting the removal or separation of children by parents. They tried to ruin the reputation of Sotsuda as a group and to completely alienate him from society." Such an act is called "Character Assassination" in Western countries and is known as a method of mass manipulation. It is an intentionally organized attempt to manipulate the mass through media to tarnish the reputation or the image of a person and to nullify his social influence by attacking his character instead of attacking his argument or action.
There is no evidence that Sotsuda was engaging in DV. The Matsudo ruling asserts that "Sotsuda’s wife insists that physical, economic, mental, and sexual violence were a cause of the break-up of their marriage and also a cause for alimony, but there is no evidence to prove her claim." It is unusual to go so far in the judgment. Unless the judge in charge was convinced that "there was no DV at all," he wouldn’t say that much. Thus, it can be easily inferred that Sotsuda’s wife’s allegations were groundless.
However, such rulings can be completely overridden by as many as 39 socially influential and seemingly credible individuals disseminating false information simultaneously. Furthermore, the complaint and the submitted evidence indicate the collusion between Sotsuda’s wife and the defendants. For example, whenever they found articles that talked about “the child abduction by Sotsuda’s wife and subsequent behaviors by the defendants to falsify a claim of DV in order to justify the child abduction,” they threatened the reporters, writers, or editors, who were responsible for the articles, with suits and had them delete those articles.
This is an act that violates the freedom of expression and is a serious violation of the human rights that infringes the provisions of the Constitution. It is ironic that such unconstitutional and inhumane acts are made by defendant Kimura, who calls himself a constitutionalist, and the lawyers, who represent themselves as protectors of human rights.
The defendants' maneuvers have been very successful so far, and the public only sees articles that are convenient for the defendants. There is an idiom that says, "a lie which is repeated a thousand times becomes truth." Those 39 people must be fully realizing that the idiom is true.
Towards a Society without Parental Child Abduction
In Japan today, parental child abductions occur on a daily basis, and false DV claims are fabricated to justify them. Parents whose children were abducted can be further labelled as DV husbands or “Child Abuse” mothers. Yet, few members of the media have tried to shine a light on this lawless society. Sotsuda's lawsuit is a ray of light to break the deadlock.
The judge who writes the judgment is in the same profession as the defendants, and thus it may be unlikely that a decent judgment will be issued. However, some judges have a human conscience, such as the judge who made the Matsudo ruling. The situation can change if many judges follow Ooka's wise judgment.
Sotsuda said that he would plan to file a petition for the change of his daughter’s custody in addition to this civil action, which began on March 10th, this year. He heard that some fathers became so desperate and committed suicide when the Matsudo ruling was overturned by the Tokyo High Courts and decided to keep fighting not only for himself and his daughter, but also for parents and children who are suffering from child abduction and separation in this country.
A society where all children can see both their parents freely after their parents’ divorce can be realized by introducing the "Friendly Parent Rule" proposed by the Matsudo ruling. If this rule is adopted by the Supreme Court, Japanese society will change drastically.
This problem of child abduction is a family issue, which is the foundation of Japanese society, as well as a matter of the justice branch, which is one of the three branches of government, and a matter of concern to all. Tomorrow, your child or grandchild may be abducted, and a year later you may sit in a court, be ridiculed by a court official, who says to you, "If you want to commit suicide, go outside and do it."
I hope that many people think seriously about this issue as if they themselves were the victims of a child abduction. Let’s stand up together. Now is the time to regain a legitimate justice system and realize a society where parents and children are not torn apart.
