Japan Govt Mulls Limits to Appeals against Retrial Orders

Tokyo, April 6 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government is considering imposing limits on public prosecutors’ appeals against court decisions to open retrials, as part of a bill to revise the retrial system, it was learned Monday. The move comes after many members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party called for a complete ban on such appeals. The government aims to pass the bill during the current Diet session, but it has abandoned a plan to give cabinet approval to the bill on Tuesday. The system allowing prosecutors to appeal district court decisions to start retrials has been viewed as a factor delaying relief for victims of false charges. In 2025, a suprapartisan group of lawmakers, including LDP members who were lawyers, submitted a bill to ban such appeals, but it was scrapped. The Justice Ministry remains reluctant to fully ban such appeals, arguing that it is unreasonable for lower courts to overturn finalized convictions. At an LDP meeting on Monday, participants also raised objections to the bill’s provisions limiting the disclosure of evidence held by investigative authorities and penalizing the release of evidence to the press. With the bill’s fate increasingly uncertain, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a press conference on the day that the government will “make vigorous preparations in order to submit (the bill) as soon as possible.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]