Deliberations on Anti-Organized Crime Law Amendment (newly proposed “Crimes of Conspiracy”)
Problems were pointed out in Testimony
09 May 2006
On May 9th, RENGO Assistant General Secretary Hitoshi Takahashi attended Judicial Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives as a witness on the recommendation of the Democratic Party of Japan. The committee has been listening to testimony from witnesses on the proposed inclusion of “crimes of conspiracy” to the anti-organized crime law amendment.
Assistant General Secretary Takahashi stated that "in order to guarantee the safety and security of our lives, we must crack down on criminal groups such as international terrorist organizations and Japanese organized group of gangsters (boryokudan)."
Further, he strongly pointed out problems in the bill saying: "Trade unions are groups that seek to improve workers' lives and are unrelated to crime but there have been cases where unions were accused of crimes because of the arbitrary judgment of management and investigators."
"Although they tell us that crimes of conspiracy would not be applicable to general trade unions/rightful labor movements, there is the concern that once the bill is enacted the law would sprout wings and the arbitrary judgment of the authorities would take precedence over everything."
He again pushed the government and the ruling parties to revise the bill by urging "if you acknowledge that rightful trade unions/labor movements are not organized crime, then we want it to be clearly stated so in the law."