Diet Likely to Pass Retrial System Reform Bill during Current Session

Tokyo, June 11 (Jiji Press)–The bill to revise Japan’s retrial system is now likely to be enacted by the end of the current Diet session on July 17, after an opposition party indicated on Thursday that it will support the bill. At a board meeting of the House of Representatives Judicial Affairs Committee on the day, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Japan Innovation Party coalition presented revisions to the bill, including a review every five years of the proposed ban on the unintended use of evidence. The revisions also include supplementary provisions that call for appropriate court orders for evidence disclosure and the prosecution’s appropriate voluntary submission of evidence. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya welcomed the revisions, saying that the supplementary provisions reflect his party’s requests. With Sanseito’s support, the bill will likely pass the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, where the ruling bloc lacks a majority. At the day’s meeting, the ruling bloc also proposed that the Lower House committee vote on the bill on Friday. Although the Centrist Reform Alliance and the Democratic Party for the People opposed the proposal, the committee’s chair, Hidetaka Inoue of the JIP, adopted it under his authority. The ruling bloc aims to pass the bill through the full Lower House next Tuesday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]