Japan Lower House Panel OKs Retrial System Reform Bill

Tokyo, June 12 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese parliamentary panel Friday approved a bill submitted by the government to reform the country’s retrial system. The Judicial Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, passed the bill to revise the Code of Criminal Procedure by a majority vote, with support from the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling camp and Sanseito. The passage came after the bill underwent revisions mainly to add a supplementary provision stipulating that the prohibition on the use of evidence for purposes other than its intended one be subject to a regular review of the system every five years. The bill is expected to clear the Lower House on Tuesday and be enacted during the current Diet session ending in July. At the beginning of Friday’s committee meeting, the purpose of the revisions jointly submitted by the ruling camp and Sanseito was explained. The revised bill also stipulates that the appropriateness of rules on the disclosure of a list of evidence held by the prosecution be subject to the regular review. Also included is a supplementary provision that the voluntary submission and disclosure of evidence by the prosecution be handled “appropriately depending on the case.” Prosecutors’ appeals against a court decision to start a retrial, widely seen as a cause of delays in relief for victims of unjust convictions, would be “prohibited in principle,” with the exception of “when there are sufficient grounds,” according to the bill. Regarding the disclosure of evidence, courts would order the prosecution to submit evidence only when they deem it appropriate considering relevance and necessity related to the request for a retrial. Lawyers and others would be prohibited from providing disclosed evidence to third parties for purposes other than retrial procedures. Among opposition forces, the Centrist Reform Alliance, Team Mirai and the Japanese Communist Party had jointly submitted their own bill to fully ban appeals by prosecutors against a court decision to reopen a case, permit the use of evidence for purposes other than its intended one and require prosecutors to disclose evidence in principle and release evidence lists. But the bill was voted down. On Thursday, Sanseito decided to support the government-sponsored bill after the ruling camp, also including the Japan Innovation Party, presented a draft of the revised version. The ruling parties are a minority force in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, but with the addition of Sanseito, they will be able to secure a majority and realize the passage of the bill. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]