LDP Panel Approves Limiting Prosecutors’ Right to Appeal Retrial Orders

A Liberal Democratic Party panel approved a government proposal to ban prosecutors “in principle” from appealing a retrial order on Wednesday. The approval paves the way for the revision to be submitted to the current parliamentary session, which runs through July 17. The revision is a top priority for the government.

It concerns the retrial system under the criminal procedural law. For the past 1½ months, LDP lawmakers and the Justice Ministry have been at odds over the revision of the retrial system. The Justice Ministry had wanted to retain the prosecutors’ right to appeal, while the LDP sided with retrial victims and said the prosecutors’ right to appeal should be banned.

Keisuke Suzuki heads a Liberal Democratic Party panel on the judicial system. Japan Times reported that he spoke during a party meeting on retrial revisions on Thursday at the party's headquarters in Tokyo. The proposal restricts a right of prosecutors that has been criticized for prolonging procedures for those who may have been wrongly convicted to clear their names.

The approval follows weeks of internal negotiations that placed the LDP in direct opposition to the ministry overseeing the Public Prosecutor’s Office. LDP lawmakers argued throughout the dispute that victims of flawed convictions deserved faster resolution.

The Justice Ministry maintained its position that prosecutors needed the ability to challenge retrial orders to protect the integrity of the judicial process.

The parliamentary session provides a defined window for lawmakers to debate and vote on the measure. With the panel's approval secured on Wednesday, government officials can now formally introduce the bill before the July 17 deadline. The change would mark a significant shift in how retrial cases are handled once a court orders a new trial.

Prosecutors would lose their automatic right to appeal such orders except in narrowly defined exceptions implied by the “in principle” language.