Japan Press Weekly

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2022 February 2 - 8 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Bar federation rally to demand justice reform for swift scheduling of retrials

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations on February 2 at the House of Representatives members’ office building held a rally, demanding that the Code of Criminal Procedure be revised for a swift scheduling of retrials that will give relief to the wrongfully convicted.

Delivering a speech on behalf of the JFBA, lawyer Kamoshida Yumi noted that the Code of Criminal Procedure contains only 19 laws pertaining to retrial and that these laws have not been revised for more than 70 years.

Furthermore, Kamoshida pointed out that as a major problem, whether a retrial request is accepted or not depends on judges’ attitudes toward reexamination of the concluded cases. She stressed the need for a reform of the current criminal justice system so that a retrial will be granted regardless of judges’ attitudes.

Rally participants included Sakurai Shoji, who won his exoneration in a retrial 43 years after he was falsely convicted of robbery and murder, and lawyers of persons appealing for retrial due to allegedly wrongful convictions. Calling for the improvement of the retrial system, they criticized the government for its reluctance to amend the Criminal Procedure Code, which is unconstitutional.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Motomura Nobuko and JCP member of the House of Councilors Yamazoe Taku (lawyer) together with other lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties delivered speeches.