Conspiracy for Crime of Conspiracy

Shinzo Abe administration still insists on adding the crime of conspiracy in legal system of Japan. Attributing it to necessity of deterring terrorism, the government considers submitting necessary bill to next ordinary session of the Diet, which will be convoked January 20^th. The people in Japan may be arrested, if the law is activated, when they talked about committing terrorism. Well, this country looks like once it had been before World War II.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been leading the discussion over the crime of conspiracy. He showed his fervor for it in the board meeting of Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday, indicating the submission of the bill to the Diet. “Preparing for Tokyo Olympic 2020, we need to have perfect system to avoid organized crime before it is executed,” told Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, in his press conference on Thursday. He insisted on the necessity of the law to ratify United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in 2000.

The government tried to submit the bills to the extraordinary session last fall. It was blocked by the reluctance of LDP’s coalition partner, Komeito, which concerned intervention of people’s liberty or freedom of assembly. So, the government is considering revised version of Organized Crime Penalty Law to next session. The bill includes new requirement for application, which is limited to preparatory activities for crime, including raising money, by “organized criminal group.” The name of the crime was changed from “crime of conspiracy” to “crime of preparation for organized crime including terrorism.” This is an ordinary camouflage that Japanese bureaucrats often use to deceit innocent citizens.

It is Komeito that determines the fortune of new conspiracy of Abe administration. The party is expected to be reluctant in dealing with the bills before the election of Tokyo Metropolitan Congress this summer. Considering a possibility of Komeito to be negative on the discussion in the time close to the election, LDP is looking for the best timing for submission of the bill.

Lawyers are seriously worried about broad application of new type of crime. If the bill passed the Diet, the new crime will be applied to six hundred kinds of criminal activities, including theft or illegal election campaign. It is possible that protesters against some legislation talking about possibility of collision with police in their future demonstration in front of Prime Minister’s Official Residence will be arrested. One man with an organization, whatever it is, who draws cash in a bank for his/her ordinary life can also be arrested. Cameras hung on telephone poles in every corner of towns will closely watch what the people are doing.