2 weeks Ago
Japan's Justice Ministry said Monday that its advisory body has mostly agreed on the need to reform provisions on evidence disclosure, as part of efforts to revise the country's controversial retrial system. The broad consensus was reached during the first meeting of a subcommittee of the Legislative Council tasked with reviewing Japan's criminal retrial system, amid criticism that the process of overturning wrongful convictions is excessively prolonged due largely to inadequate legal provisions. The retrial framework has been left untouched since the criminal procedure law was enacted in 1948.
But the highly publicized acquittal last year of 89-year-old Iwao Hakamata, who spent nearly half a century on death row following a quadruple murder conviction, shed light on the legal shortcomings in the system. In future meetings, the council plans to hear from individuals who were wrongfully convicted, as well as defense attorneys involved in retrials and victims of crime. Among those likely to be invited is Hideko Hakamata, Iwao's 92-year-old sister.
The subcommittee is composed of 14 members, including legal professionals and criminal law academics. Notably, it includes lawyer Hiroaki Murayama, the former Shizuoka District Court presiding judge who approved the reopening of Hakamata's case in 2014, and Yumi Kamoshida, who heads the office on retrial system reform within the Japan Federation of Bar Associations..
