Review of retrial system, questions asked by the House of Representatives Judicial Affairs Committee

The government's bill to revise the Criminal Procedure Law, which aims to revise the retrial system, will reach a climax in its deliberations in the House of Representatives on the 9th when the House of Representatives Judicial Affairs Committee will ask questions about it. The ruling party hopes to have the bill put to a committee vote on the 12th and hasten its passage through the House of Representatives, but the gap with the opposition party over the handling of evidence remains unbridgeable. The opposition parties are poised to press for the acceptance of a counter-proposal that is being deliberated in parallel, and to explore the possibility of amending the government's plan. Pros and cons of prosecutor's appeal, questioning of witnesses in review of retrial - House of Representatives Judicial Committee The government's proposal entered deliberation on the 26th of last month. After a heated debate within the Liberal Democratic Party, the prosecution's appeal against the decision to start a retrial, which has been considered the ``culprit'' behind protracted proceedings, will be prohibited in principle unless there is ``sufficient grounds.'' However, under the government's proposal, the number of cases in which a court can order prosecutors to submit evidence is limited to ``when it deems it appropriate.'' The list of evidence is presented only to the court and not to the attorney. There is also a provision that prohibits the use of evidence for purposes other than its intended purpose, with penalties, and there are concerns that this could discourage applicants and attorneys for retrials. Opposition parties criticized this, saying, ``If things continue like this, relief for victims of false accusations will be far away.'' The Centrist Reform Alliance, Team Mirai, and the Japanese Communist Party submitted a counterproposal, in line with the views of the bipartisan coalition that has been leading the retrial review: (1) Prosecution appeals should be completely prohibited, (2) Evidence should be disclosed in principle, (3) Evidence lists should also be disclosed, and (4) it could be used for other purposes. In deliberations so far, the Ministry of Justice has responded that if the prosecution launches an appeal without ``sufficient grounds,'' ``the case will be dismissed by the court and it will be illegal under the Criminal Procedure Code.The issue of state compensation could also arise.'' In response to this, members of the bipartisan parliamentary coalition, both ruling and opposition parties, have said that ``prosecution appeals have been suppressed to a certain degree.'' For this reason, negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties starting next week are expected to focus on the scope of evidence disclosure, the handling of the evidence list, and the pros and cons of using it for other purposes. The government's position is that ``It has been repeatedly revised through preliminary review by the Liberal Democratic Party, and further revisions are unlikely.'' (Ministry of Justice official). The ruling party holds three-quarters of the seats in the House of Representatives, and the reality is that there is no prospect of amendments to the government's proposal. For this reason, some opposition parties are saying that the House of Representatives should only issue a supplementary resolution to put the nail in the coffin to the government, and the House of Councilors, where the ruling party continues to lack a majority, should force the ruling party to make amendments.