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.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]