TOKYO √ Japanese lawmakers on Thursday decided to impeach a 43-year-old Tokyo High Court judge labeled a "dirty old man" by a colleague for having sex with underage teen girls, an official said.

The judge, Yasuhiro Muraki, will be the subject of Japan's first impeachment trial in 20 years since a bribery case involving an assistant judge in Tokyo.

The 20 members of the Judge Indictment Committee "unanimously decided to send him to the Impeachment Court," according to committee chairman Kazuo Tanikawa.

Judges cannot normally be dismissed except by the process of impeachment, in which a special trial is held by judges to determine if the judge in question is capable of exercising his duties.

The only two exceptions were when a judge disappeared without trace, and when a judge was sick for more than six years, an official working for the committee said.

The parliamentary committee decided on the impeachment process because Muraki's act! was "tantamount to misconduct that gravely damages the dignity of judges," Tanikawa said.

At the opening of his trial at the Tokyo District Court on July 23, Muraki pleaded guilty to charges that he paid for sex with three teenage girls in violation of Japan's law against prostitution and pornography involving children.

Public prosecutors demanded a two-year prison term.

While saying that "at the heart of the problem are my mental weakness and my poor heart," Muraki said he wanted to "set myself free from heavy pressure handling criminal trials."

Prosecutors admitted Muraki had suffered from stress for several years and experienced breathing difficulties when giving judgments in court.

Muraki said he wanted to date with "women who have nothing to do with my everyday life" in the legal profession.

But presiding judge Megumi Yamamuro chided Muraki for "leaving a damnable blot on the history of justice in Japan."

"Excuse ! me for using filthy language, but weren't you just having a Loli-con, (aren't you) just an dirty old man?" the 53-year-old judge said, glaring at Muraki.

"Loli-con" is Japanese shorthand for Lolita-complex, a sexual fixation with underage girls, particularly in sailor-suit school uniforms, which derives its name from Vladimir Nabokov's novel, Lolita.