The Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit Friday filed by relatives of five deceased journalists who were convicted of promoting communism in the 1940s and charged with violating the now-defunct Peace Preservation Law.
Over 60 journalists and magazine editors were arrested for breaching the old anticommunism law in relation to a democracy-advocating magazine article published in 1942, a case referred to today as the Yokohama Incident.
The plaintiffs were demanding that the court clear the names of the five men by verifying their innocence, but the dismissal was expected because no sessions were held at the Supreme Court to listen to arguments from the prosecution and defense.