The Osaka District Court has reversed the Justice Ministry's decision not to disclose records related to its move to delay the retirement of Hiromu Kurokawa, former head of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office.
The court reached the decision Thursday in a lawsuit filed by Hiroshi Kamiwaki, professor at Kobe Gakuin University, who contended that the ministry's refusal to disclose records on its reinterpretation of a law for the postponement was illegal.
Presiding Judge Atsushi Tokuchi found that "the interpretation was changed in order to extend Kurokawa's tenure."
Previously, the public prosecutor's office law set the retirement age for prosecutors, excluding the prosecutor-general, at 63.
In January 2020, however, the administration of then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to delay Kurokawa's retirement beyond the limit by changing the government's interpretation of the law. Kurokawa was said to be close to the Abe administration.
In the suit, the ministry argued that there existed records showing that it was considering a change to the interpretation of the law to extend the tenures of all prosecutors, but that there were no records for the purpose of specifically extending Kurokawa's tenure.
"I am compelled to believe that the purpose of the change in the interpretation was to extend Kurokawa's tenure," given that the change was made in a short amount of time without enough time to inform prosecutors nationwide so that it could be done before his retirement date, Tokuchi said.
The judge determined that the Justice Ministry is in possession of records on Kurokawa, reversing the ministry's nondisclosure decision.