Prosecutors indicted a 57-year-old Buddhist monk on Tuesday for trespassing while posting fliers at a housing complex in Katsushika Ward, Tokyo, last month.
According to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office, Yosei Arakawa entered the condominium building on the afternoon of Dec. 23 to distribute political fliers.
The building has a sign at the entrance banning unauthorized entry. Arakawa is accused of using an elevator to distribute the leaflets to individual mailboxes in the apartment building.
The fliers contained reports from the Japanese Communist Party's metropolitan assembly members.
Arakawa's lawyers said a resident of the apartment building told Arakawa to stop distributing the leaflets because it was a nuisance. Arakawa responded that he was engaged in a legitimate political activity and that he would not post a flier against any resident's wishes. The resident then called the police, who arrested Arakawa on the spot.
Prosecutor Haruo Kasama said: "The nature of what was distributed is not the question. It is a conflict of rights.
"But an increasing number of people feel they do not want their privacy encroached upon."
Arakawa's lawyers told a news conference on Tuesday that the indictment runs counter to the freedom of speech guaranteed under the Constitution.