Japan Govt Drafts Bill Banning Appeals against Retrials “in Principle”

Tokyo, May 7 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Justice Ministry has drafted a bill to bar public prosecutors “in principle” from appealing court orders to start retrials, it was learned Thursday. The new draft was presented at a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on the day. It has a supplementary provision stating that prosecutors must not appeal retrial decisions but adding that this does not apply when there are sufficient reasons to overturn them. An earlier draft, shown to the party last month, stated that appeals were possible if there were sufficient reasons. It is still uncertain whether the LDP will approve the new draft, as some in the party are calling for a ban on appeals to be included in the main text of the planned bill. At the beginning of Thursday’s meeting, former Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who chairs the LDP’s Research Commission on the Judiciary System, indicated that the party needs to accelerate discussions on the matter. “We must consider a time frame, given that the (ongoing ordinary Diet) session will end in mid-July,” Suzuki said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]