A government official was indicted Thursday without arrest for distributing Japanese Communist Party newspapers at police housing in Tokyo in violation of the National Public Service Law.
Shinichi Ujihashi, 57, a Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare official, dropped extras of the newspaper Akahata in the mailboxes of 32 households at the police residential complex in Setagaya Ward on Sept. 10, involving himself in political activities.
The law restricts government employees from undertaking such activities.
Ujihashi had initially been arrested for trespassing at the complex, but prosecutors said they decided not to indict him on the charge as it was a minor infraction.
Ujihashi was released three days after the arrest after the Tokyo District Court rejected the prosecutors demand to keep him in custody.
In a similar move, a Social Insurance Agency official was arrested and indicted last year for distributing the JCP newspaper in violation of the National Public Service Law.