Japan Govt to Propose Modified Bill to Revise Retrial System Wed.

Tokyo, April 14 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government is planning to present to a ruling party meeting Wednesday a modified draft of a bill aimed at revising the country’s retrial system, it has been learned. Initially, the government considered proposing the revised draft Tuesday but is now set to delay the presentation by one day, due to a scheduling issue regarding a related meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party. The envisaged retrial system overhaul is intended to speed up the rescue of victims of false charges. In the modified draft bill to amend the criminal procedure law, the government plans to set limits on public prosecutors’ appeals against court rulings to grant retrials to finalized cases, apparently in an attempt to soothe the LDP. The original bill continued to allow prosecutors to challenge such rulings, but this drew anger from the ruling party, with many calling for banning such appeals. At a meeting Monday, the LDP conducted hearings with Hiroaki Murayama and Yumi Kamoshida, both lawyers, and former judge Hiroyuki Nakagawa. As members of the Legislative Council, which advises the justice minister, Murayama and Kamoshida have expressed opposition to the Justice Ministry bill. At Monday’s meeting, they repeated their criticisms, saying that prosecutors’ appeals lead to court proceedings on retrial petitions becoming lengthy. Participating LDP lawmakers reiterated their demands for banning prosecutors’ appeals. The government earlier planned to propose the modified draft bill at a joint meeting of LDP organs, including the Judicial Affairs Division, scheduled to start at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday. With a House of Representatives plenary meeting slated to take place from 1 p.m. the same day, however, many LDP members barked at the scheduling for the party meeting, saying that the time to be spent on the gathering would be too short. Following the development, Keisuke Suzuki, chairman of the LDP’s Research Commission on the Judiciary System and former justice minister, said that LDP joint meeting will be postponed to Wednesday. He asked the Justice Ministry to present the modified draft bill at the Wednesday meeting. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]