Japan Govt Eyes Ban on Anti-Retrial Appeals "in Principle"

Tokyo, April 23 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Justice Ministry plans to ban prosecutors from appealing court orders to grant retrials "in principle" while allowing them to do so in cases where there are sufficient grounds to overturn such orders as exceptions, government and ruling bloc officials have said.

The ministry is slated to include these in a modified draft of a bill to revise the criminal procedure law. The amendment is intended to revamp the country's retrial system.

Still, it is unclear whether the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will accept the modification as there are persistent calls within the party for completely banning public prosecutors from filing appeals against retrial orders.

According to the modified draft, the retrial system would be reviewed "every five years," a change from the previous plan to conduct a review "five years after the enforcement" of the revised law.

In the LDP's preliminary screenings of the ministry's draft of the amendment, many party lawmakers criticized the existing appeal system for leading to lengthy court proceedings on retrial petitions and delaying the rescue of victims of wrongful convictions.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]