Crime
Vagina artist Megumi Igarashi
indicted on charges of obscenity
AFP-JIJI DEC
24, 2014
Prosecutors
on Wednesday charged a feminist artist who makes objects shaped like her vagina
with distributing “obscene” data, according to her lawyer, in a case that has
sparked accusations that authorities are out of touch.
The
charges follow Megumi Igarashi’s arrest this month after she raised funds
online to pay for a genital-shaped kayak that she made on a 3-D printer.
“We
don’t agree with the prosecutors’ contention at all,” Takeshi Sumi, one of
Igarashi’s lawyers, said. “We will continue pleading not guilty on behalf of
Igarashi, who argues her works are not anything obscene.”
Igarashi,
42, was first arrested in July but was freed after several days following a
legal appeal and after thousands of people signed a petition demanding her
release.
But
Tokyo police arrested her again this month — along with sex shop owner Minori
Watanabe, 44, who is also a writer and feminist activist, for “displaying
(Igarashi’s) obscene goods in her shop window.”
Watanabe,
whose boutique is aimed at women, was later freed after prosecutors failed to
persuade a judge to sanction extended questioning.
But
the court approved Igarashi’s detention, as prosecutors said they feared she
would destroy evidence if released, according to Sumi.
The
present charges relate to three counts of distributing “obscene” data — namely
CD-ROMs containing computer code for a 3-D printer that would allow users to
make copies of the vagina-shaped kayak.
Obscenity
laws ban pictures of actual genitalia, which normally are obscured in
pornography.
If
convicted, Igarashi could face up to two years behind bars and a fine of ¥2.5
million.
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