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The Japan Times
Sept. 13, 1995
Soka Gakkai, a lay Buddhist organization, announced Tuesday that it filed a defamation complaint with the Metropolitan Police Department against the editor of Shukan Gendai, a weekly magazine, and the family of the late Akiyo Asagi, a former member of the Higashi-Murayama Municipal Assembly.
The complaint is based on an article in the Sept. 23 issue of Shukan Gendai, in which Asagi’s husband, Daito, and daughter Naoko accuse Soka Gakkai of murdering the assemblywoman.
The article reports that Asagi had been an active critic of alleged preferential treatment of Soka Gakkai-related businesses and workers by the municipal office.
Asagi’s activities were a considerable threat to Soka Gakkai, the story says.
It quotes Asagi’s family as saying that Soka Gakkai’s activities are comparable to those of Aum Shinrikyo.
Asagi fell to her death from a six-story building in Higashi-Murayama, Tokyo, on Sept. 1.
Police sources say Asagi most likely committed suicide, but her family claims that police and Soka Gakkai conspired to kill the assemblywoman and disguised it as a suicide.
At a press conference in Tokyo, Soka Gakkai spokesman Hiroshi Nishiguchi said the accusations in the Shukan Gendai article are baseless and harm the good name of his organization.
The organization hopes police will fully investigate the matter, he said.
The eldest daughter of the assemblywoman said she told the mass media, including Shukan Gendai, facts concerning her mother’s death. She added that Soka Gakkai is upset because its suspected pressure on her mother was made public.
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