April 16, 2016
Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Nihi Sohei on April 14 in a Diet meeting criticized the Abe Cabinet-proposed bill to revise the Criminal Procedure Code as useless in preventing the fabrication of false charges.
On that day, the Upper House Judicial Affairs Committee began deliberations on the bill. With the aim of preventing false accusations, it requires the investigating authorities to video the process of interrogation.
Nihi pointed out that most false charges come from the interrogation of suspects who accompany police officers voluntarily and who are in police custody after being indicted. He revealed that the bill fails to oblige the authorities to videotape the entire process of police interrogation.
The director of the Criminal Affairs Bureau of the Justice Ministry, Hayashi Makoto, was unable to refute Nihi’s argument.
The JCP legislator went on to quote a former accused in a case of robbery and murder in 1967 as saying, “Getting the third degree under constant pressure from interrogators, I was made to believe that I will be found guilty no matter if I was innocent.”
Stressing the need to videotape the entire interrogation process for objective analysis, Nihi demanded that the judicial authorities improve their investigative methods which are overly reliant on forced confessions from suspects.
Past related article:
> Police interrogations should be fully videotaped: JCP Shimizu [December 5, 2015]
On that day, the Upper House Judicial Affairs Committee began deliberations on the bill. With the aim of preventing false accusations, it requires the investigating authorities to video the process of interrogation.
Nihi pointed out that most false charges come from the interrogation of suspects who accompany police officers voluntarily and who are in police custody after being indicted. He revealed that the bill fails to oblige the authorities to videotape the entire process of police interrogation.
The director of the Criminal Affairs Bureau of the Justice Ministry, Hayashi Makoto, was unable to refute Nihi’s argument.
The JCP legislator went on to quote a former accused in a case of robbery and murder in 1967 as saying, “Getting the third degree under constant pressure from interrogators, I was made to believe that I will be found guilty no matter if I was innocent.”
Stressing the need to videotape the entire interrogation process for objective analysis, Nihi demanded that the judicial authorities improve their investigative methods which are overly reliant on forced confessions from suspects.
Past related article:
> Police interrogations should be fully videotaped: JCP Shimizu [December 5, 2015]
