A high court in Sendai asked the Supreme Court Monday to hold a hearing to punish a 53-year-old member judge over a Facebook comment he posted in November last year.

According to the high court in the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, and other sources, the judge, Kiichi Okaguchi, said in the comment that the bereaved family of a high school girl killed in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward was "mind-controlled" to rebuke him.

He was referring to a petition the family filed with the Judge Indictment Committee of the Diet, the nation's parliament, to seek his dismissal.

The comment was posted on Nov. 12, 2019, the anniversary of her death. Her family lodged a complaint with the Sendai court later in the month. The court concluded that he should be punished for "insulting the bereaved family and hurting public trust in judges."

Previously, Tokyo High Court requested the top court to hold a similar hearing against Okaguchi, who then belonged to the Tokyo court, over his controversial Twitter post about a civil lawsuit on the ownership of a pet dog.

He was reprimanded in October 2018 for "going beyond the tolerable limit for free speech."

Meanwhile, the parliamentary committee has been discussing whether to ask the Judge Impeachment Court for Okaguchi's dismissal.

JIJI Press