Peace Preservation Law

The Japanese law to maintain public safety (Japanese治安 维持 法, chian iji hō, Eng. Peace Preservation Law, " Peacekeeping Law") was adopted on 22 April 1925 and entered into force on 12 May. The law applied in the Japanese colonies, ie in Korea and Taiwan.

History

The bill was introduced by representatives of the ruling elite under the leadership of Minister of Justice Hiranuma Kiichiro, who were concerned about left -wing tendencies in the Japanese territory (in particular because of the assassination of the Crown Prince, 1923). It became the basis of political repression and persecution by the Japanese government in the next two decades.

In 1928, the maximum penalty of the law was extended to the death penalty in 1941 and again expanded in order to simplify implementation and prosecution.

Main content of the law was that members of " organizations who oppose the Japanese national essence ( Kokutai ) or private property" should be punished with jail or prison up to 10 years. Initially, only anarchists, socialists and communists were persecuted under the Act, later extremists of all possible flows. The Ministry of Justice set up for this purpose even a " thinking department "; the District Court of Kyoto established in the mid 1927 a separate department for " thought crimes ". Under the government Tanaka Giichis this system was extended by several measures, including the recruitment of informal employees from the student milieu, to keep the campus under control.

Application, impact

In total, nearly 66,000 people were 1928-1941 due to the law arrested (but only less than 6,000 were also indicted and only a person sentenced to death ) and the communist parties driven into the ground. After the surrender of Japan, on October 15, 1945, the law was repealed by imperial decree.