Names of Japanese Prosecution Inquest Panel Leaked

Tokyo, June 26 (Jiji Press)--The names of the 11 members of a prosecution inquest panel in the city of Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, have been leaked, it was learned.

Sources in the Yamaguchi District Public Prosecutors Office said Thursday that a document containing the names of the panel members was mistakenly sent to a petitioner.

The prosecutors office has not announced the matter or collected the document although the names of prosecution inquest panel members should remain confidential.

According to the prosecutors office and other sources, a party asked the Iwakuni inquest panel for an examination of a decision against indictment made the prosecutors office's Iwakuni branch in a case.

After the panel voted to approve the decision against indictment, the party filed criminal complaints against the 11 panel members on suspicion of abusing public officials' authority while their names were unknown.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]