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Califano cancelled her psychological expertise and does not want to undergo the expert examination. Close to the end of the testing stage, the sentence is awaited, which will surely reject Califano’s version.

The civil lawsuit against Cecilia Califano is for damages to the honor, image and dignity as well as to the very personal rights of Reverend Nakayama. The lawsuit is registered in the National Civil Court Number 44 of Capital Federal. The evidence has already been produced and the witnesses have testified in line of the truth set forth in Nakayama’s court brief.

Meanwhile, now Mrs. Califano gave up the psychological expertise that she had suggested as evidence; and does not want to submit to the expert examination.

Close to the end of the evidentiary stage, the sentence is awaited, which is estimated to reject Califano’s version, making room for the claim to safeguard the good name and honor, and to terminate the grievances with compensation for damages.

Buenos Aires, April 25. Ryokyu Nakayama, a Japanese citizen, priest in charge of Nichiren Shoshu in Argentina, a religion and institution recognized by the Argentine authorities, with 20-year experience in the Temple located in Avenida Carabobo 257, City of Buenos Aires, states as follows: “Cecilia Califano’s accusations against me are false and unfounded. My innocence was proved at court, thus safeguarding my good name and honor as well as the dignity of Nichiren Shoshu, also under attack. Ms. Califano will have to answer for the damages her actions have caused.”

The National Court of Appeals in Criminal and Correctional Matters in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has just confirmed the dismissal of Cecilia Califano’s complaint against me. This decision (the archive of the proceedings) is dated April 25, 2019 and not only corroborates that the accusation made by Califano was unjust and unfounded, but also strengthens the faith of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist community.

On August 9, 2019, Federal Courts (Room 2 of the Criminal and Correctional Chamber) ordered the dismissal and filing of a case presented against me and our Temple by Mrs. Califano on human trafficking for sexual exploitation. Califano was insisting after Federal Court N° 1 had rule against her denounce.At that time, the Federal Chamber had ordered that further investigations be made giving Califano the opportunity to be heard in the Court and present evidence. The Court, after hearing the statement of Califano and other testimonies, again ordered the dismissal of the case and confirmed my innocence. The investigation had been exhausted without evidence of any crime.

This is what I call persecution. The use of Justice to offend, without any foundation, my dignity, the cult of Nichiren Shoshu and the community of believers.

Here the last page of the Court sentence:

The two criminal cases initiated by Califano are terminated. The first case, opened in response to an abuse incident and has closed completely, and the second, initiated because of human trafficking and smuggling was terminated because the defendant was aquitted. In conclusion 2 district attorneys and 6 judges agreed that there was no crime to investigate, specifying that the prosecution did not afect the honor of  Reverend Nakayama.

How much longer will Califano be able to damage the reputation and honor of a dignified person dedicated to the Budhist religion? The civil justice has the answer in the case initiated by Reverend Nakayama against Cecilia Califano for damages and to end the defamation.

My name is Ryokyu Nakayama. I am a Japanese citizen and the priest responsible for the Nichiren Shoshu Temple in Argentina. The Temple is located in Avenida Carabobo 257, City of Buenos Aires. I live with my wife and two daughters aged six and three in the building that serves both as temple and as practice and educational center. Nichiren Shoshu is an institution duly recognized by the State and registered at the National Registry of Religious Organizations. We have recently celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the Temple’s opening in Argentina.

Since March 2018, a slander campaign against me, which also affects the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist cult and the members attending our services and training school, has been spreading through the social networks and digital and printed media. I deeply regret the unrest these false accusations may cause both to the community and persons of good will.

I remained silent for several years to protect Ms. Cecilia Califano’s privacy. But this campaign and the harassment on the part of my accuser, Ms. Califano, has been escalating with demonstrations in the streets, offensive graffiti, posters, stone attacks to the temple, and messages in social networks, usually under fake profiles.

Who is Cecilia Califano? She is a believer who, for more than ten years, practised Buddhism, attending the Temple and the spiritual practice meetings at the regional groups, and expressed love feeling towards me, without any encouragement whatsoever on my part, stalking and harassing me persistently. I always declined her advances and was discreet when dealing with the situation to avoid hurting her feelings and exposing her before the members of the community. Nonetheless, my tactfulness exasperated Ms. Califano, who decided to organize a campaign to tarnish my reputation.

The setup: a script with false events

Ms. Califano states that I abused her on July 25, 2017, at a hotel in Japan, during a believers’ pilgrimage to the Head Temple. That night, at her request, I accompanied her to buy some special kitchen knives. We bought them, then she wanted to have something to eat and afterwards we returned to the hotel because everybody was returning to Buenos Aires the following day. On such occasion, she declared her love feelings towards me. I rejected her declaration with care so as not to hurt her. Nonetheless, the following days she started telling me that I had hurt her by taking advantage of her feelings. I would like to state that the subsequent abuse accusation is absolutely false and a slander. Moreover, in June 2018, an anonymous complaint on human trafficking against me and the Temple was filed with the Federal Prosecutor. After a thorough investigation, this complaint was dismissed in court. However, Ms. Califano appeared as plaintiff and requested the case to be reopened. In her sworn statement, apart from the abuse, she declared that after shopping in Japan, I took her, under threats, to the areas where prostitution is exercised where she was exhibited to some men. Obviously, such statements are false. All the members who have participated in the trips to Japan organized by the Temple, including Ms. Califano, may attest that such activities never took place. To this date, she is the only plaintiff regarding the human trafficking case. In her sworn statement, she also declared that I visited brothels. This is absolutely false and serious. Five days after the events she had reported, I received a message from her expressing her love feelings towards me.

I must add that, a month later, when I travelled to Córdoba to fulfill my spiritual duties, Ms. Califano travelled on her own and participated in the programmed events and ceremonies. Although she stayed at a female believer’s home who hosted her, she insisted on getting accommodation at the same hotel I was staying. On the day I was returning to Buenos Aires, she decided to board the same bus I was travelling on, instead of using the plane ticket she had previously bought for a later date. On the day of my birthday, in August, she sent me a kimd message wishing me a happy birthday. During September and October, she asked my opinion on several issues related to her role in the Temple. Our exchange was always correct and respectful. Three months after the alleged abuse, she expressed pity and sadness because I would not attend, along with other Buddhist mates, to a meeting to be held at her home.

Ms. Califano continued her spiritual practice normally until the end of October 2017, attending the Temple and displaying a personal and social behavior which was inconsistent with the behavior of a person that had been assaulted or abused. How is it possible for a person who was abused and exhibited to men for human trafficking purposes, as she claims, to behave in such manner before me and her colleagues?

I have already submitted those messages to the court. Moreover, many people can testify in relation to the aforementioned behavior of Ms. Califano during my stay in Córdoba, for example, the interpreter that travelled with me from Buenos Aires.

I would also wish to state that Ms. Califano is spreading a fake story about a non-existing person who claims to have been abused by me in a center where I practise sports, aiming at amplifying the case by tarnishing my honor. At the court’s request, Ms. Califano expressed that it was difficult to locate this person bacause she did not know her personally. Moreover, when learning about this complaint, the sports center’s manager immediately posted, in the blog that had released the news, that such person did not exist as a member of the institution, neither had attended it. Unfortunately, the blog’s owner deleted the message.

Reckless and malicious conduct

Ms. Califano also states that, after lodging her complaint, she was ill-treated by some colleagues and expelled. I must make it clear that this not true, since she herself decided to quit her Buddhist practice and communicated this to me via a Whatsapp message. However, me and several members received insulting and threatening messages and phone calls. Also, due to this slander campaign, we have become aware of comments in social networks publications inciting violence, such as: “set the temple on fire”, and repeated threats to me displaying profound bigotry.

In this respect, my family and the members of our religious community are really frightened by Ms. Califano’s actions so far. I deeply regret the suffering she is causing. At this moment, her aggressive and violent campaign prevents the Temple and its worshipers from enjoying a normal religious practice in a peaceful, free and tranquil social environment.

I would also wish to clearly express that abuse, whether psychological or physical, is always a despicable and repulsive act, no matter the circumstances.

Steps taken to confront discredit

Since the aggressions are increasing and nothing seems to stop Ms. Califano’s behavior, I have been forced to take formal measures (sending a return receipt letter; filing a misdemeanor complaint with the Buenos Aires City Prosecutor’s Office; a civil mediation, which Ms. Califano failed to attend), but to no avail. Presently, I have filed a civil complaint against Ms. Califano to stop her defamatory conduct, to publicly retract, to refrain from reproducing her unfounded slanderous and libelous allegations, and to pay for the damages inflicted. I must safeguard the inalienable right to my good name and integrity, honor and dignity, as well as Nichiren Shoshu’s cult and religious freedom.

About Nichiren Shoshu

Nichiren Shoshu is a Buddhist school founded more than 750 years ago in Taisekiji, Japan. It has 1086 priests, 698 temples in Japan and 33 distributed in the United States of America, Canada, Spain, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Brazil. It comprises 700,000 members and has been established in Argentina since 1960. The Temple located in Flores was opened in 1998. Nichiren Shoshu spreads worldwide the correct teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, for each individual’s joy as a starting point to achieve eternal world peace. Regarding the Spanish-speaking countries in South America, there are believers in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Bolivia, all centered at the Temple located in Argentina, where worship and educational activities are constantly conducted.
http://www.nichirenshoshu.or.jp/index.html

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Transcription

The Flores neighborhood Buddhist monk accused of sexually assaulting a follower
in Japan speaks: “She said she had fallen in love with me”

The case reopened a file for human trafficking against a temple in Flores neighborhood. At the seat, they do not rule out the possibility of a rival sect being behind.

Ryokyu Nakayama, at his Temple in Flores

When one steps through the double-leaf door of The Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist Temple on Carabobo Avenue in Flores, the first thing that calls one’s attention is silence. There are people, there is movement around, but there is no noise. Some believers pile up chairs, others polish the floor; two of them arrange fruit on a table. At the back, the church, the altar, can be seen. In some room, there awaits Japanese priest Ryokyu Nakayama, who faces a brutal accusation: having sexually assaulted Cecilia Califano, a former faithful of the cult, during a pilgrimage to Japan in July 2017, an alleged crime in a hotel in Tokyo, on a Asahi beer spree. Califano lodged a criminal complaint, informed the Migration Office about the event: the case is filed with Court N°12.

Nakayama is willing to break the silence and speak with Infobae: This will be the first time he talks with the media after such charges were brought against him.  

Paula Andrea Rodríguez and María Cecilia Mato, two followers, are waiting at the door of the temple. Both of them are Buddhist and persons of Nakayama’s full trust. For several years, they have been members of The Nichiren Shoshu Temple in Flores, the only Spanish-speaking temple in South America.  

The temple gathers around 300 families, although, in the country, there are over one thousand followers of the cult, which was born on the hillside of Mount Fuji in Japan more than 750 years ago and arrived to Argentina in 1960.

The interview takes place in a small white room with bare walls, and an inner window pane through which the whole temple can be seen.  Inside the room, there is nothing but a table and five chairs. On the temple’s upper floor, according to tradition, there live the priest and his family: he is married with two daughters. He was married at the time of the alleged sexual assault.

Nakayama, during the dialogue with Infobae

After some minutes, Ryokyu Nakayama shows up at the doorstep. His wife and daughters, aged 3 and 6, follow him, smiling.  The postcard seems convincing. Nakayama is a 39-year-old man, moves gently, has a crew cut, and wears a grey kimono.

According to the charge filed by Califano, in July 2017, on the last day of a group pilgrimage to the Taiseki-ji Head Temple, in Japan, the monk accompanied her to buy some knives. When they were back in the hotel, in Shinagawa, he asked her to let him come into her room to, allegedly pretending to be drunk, sexually assault her, touching (sic), an event that did not involve any type of penetration.

Nakayama and Califano together with the group from the Flores Temple on their pilgrimage to Japan in 2017

“Up to now, we have had no chance to tell what really happened”, were Nakayama’s first words, immediately after his wife and daughters left the room.

Regarding the long time he took to reply, he said that it was the “escrache”* carried out at the temple’s door by the end of last month, when people sprayed the building’s facade with paint and posted signs with his photo and the word “abusador”, which prompted him to speak.  

*a demonstration outside the house or workplace of a public figure to draw attention to their perceived crimes  

Images of the “escrache” to Nakayama (Photo: Virginia Chaile)

The monk gave his version of events about that last night in Tokyo and, as the true motive of Califano’s accusation, he pointed to “unrequited love”, an argument similar to the one given by Juan Darthés with reference to the latter’s victim, Thelma Fardín.

According to the monk, she asked him to assist her in purchasing some kitchen knives and, on their last day in Tokyo, they went out together to buy them. He had asked her to bring other members with them –as it is not well looked upon that a priest, even less a married one, be alone with a female believer in such circumstances⎼ but she appeared just by herself at the lobby.  

“She told me that the rest of the group had already left to dine out”, pointed out Nakayama. After buying the knives, he admits, they went to a restaurant, but he denies having had any alcoholic drinks, let alone getting drunk ⎼as Califano claims.

“I had not noticed, by then, any different attitude on her part, but after dinner, on our way to the train station, she tried to hold my hand“, recalls the priest, who assures that, at that moment, he tried to avoid her as politely as he could.

Once at the hotel, as they were in the elevator going up to their rooms, her advance became more explicit. “She started getting closer to my face and tried to kiss me, I moved away, and again tried to avoid her without being rough“, he explained.  

“Then she told me she had fallen in love with me, to which I answered that I had a family, I was a priest, and I could not return such feeling. I did so very carefully to avoid hurting her feelings“, the priest said, and added that Cecilia burst into tears before they left for their rooms.   

Alleged messages from Cecilia to Nakayama after the trip to Japan

For the first time, Nakayama showed alleged private chats between him and Califano ⎼apparently already examined and checked by an Informatics expert in order to be presented to the courts⎼ where she declares here love to him and justifies her reaction. “¿Did you realize why I cried? That’s the story of my life. Every person I love disappears”, she wrote.

However, in answer to Infobae’s question on the chat exchange, although Califano admitted that the conversation did exist, she explained:  “It is out of context, I am speaking of the love of a disciple towards their mentor”. “From this conversation, all that appeared above and below is missing; I was telling him that he was going to disappear as well, because, after what had happened, everything was irreversible”, she added.  

“I learnt about what she said had happened when she published it on Facebook”, said Paula, who has been a Buddhist practitioner for 30 years and a member of The Nichiren Shoshu for the latest 20 years. “Cecilia continued attending and making proposals for two more months as someone who is a member of the temple; her accusation took me by surprise”, she admitted.

“To some of us, she sent a message on WhatsApp with her version of the sexual assault, which she later published on Facebook and other social networks”, said María Cecilia, who has been collaborating every day for three years at the Carabobo Ave. seat, and met Califano as a member of the organization.  

Nakayama with Paula Andrea Rodríguez, one of the members of The Nichiren Shoshu

“It is quite embarrassing ⎼I say this as a believer and as part of the organization⎼ listening to the reverend giving explanations on this issue“, Paula acknowledged, and also added a piece of information which might provide another interpretation of the events, and is connected to a possible foul play by a cult rivaling Nichiren Shoshu.

Some weeks after Cecilia filed the complaint, a woman who had not been attending the temple for months, [a woman] from the south of the country, phoned Paula to tell her that she had learnt of the accusation against Nakayama, and that the same had happened to her.

Upon working on the case, the court discovered that not only had the woman used a false name when approaching The Nichiren Shoshu, but also held a high position within Soka Gakkai International, a rival Buddhist group.

Nichiren Shoshu ceremony in progress at theTemple in Flores

“It is not the first time this happens; it started years ago”, explained Paula, and revealed that they had been attacked by the cult ⎼which, alike the rivalry, has its origin in Japan⎼ several times in the past.

Such attacks, according to The Nichiren Shoshu, have ranged from supposed infiltrators sabotaging Nakayama’s seminars in other cities, false accusations in the ’90s, up to acts of vandalism against the temple, although they cannot prove Cecilia has had any contact with them.  

Besides, some weeks after the charge for sexual assault in Japan was filed, another anonymous allegation involved Nakayama and the temple, this time regarding human trafficking and capturing wills for prostitution purposes, was filed with judge María Romilda Servini’s court.

Nakayama, in full worship

Members of the federal security forces, following orders by Federal Prosecutor Paloma Ochoa, mingled with The Nichiren Shoshu believers and carried out a covert investigation with negative results. The file was soon dismissed, and recently reopened upon request by Califano, who gave testimony through a one-way mirror.

Nakayama filed a misdemeanor complaint against Califano with the Buenos Aires City Prosecutor’s Office (“Ministerio Público Fiscal de la Ciudad”), a civil-matters mediation to which the 39-year-old woman failed to appear because, according to her representatives, at that moment she did not have an attorney.

She, on her part, goes ahead with the charge she filed before Criminal and Correctional Court Nº. 12, while she is trying to travel to Japan, where the alleged sexual assault took place, in order to file other complaints there, such as Thelma Fardín did in Nicaragua.

Photos: Gustavo Gavotti