Upper house passes bill to fully record, film interrogations

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TOKYO, April 24 Kyodo -
The opposition-controlled upper house passed a bill Friday to require
investigative authorities to fully record and film interrogations of criminal
suspects but it apparently has a slim chance of becoming law as the ruling
parties are unlikely to endorse it in the more powerful lower house.
The amendment to the criminal procedure law cleared the House of Councillors
plenary session with support from the Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese
Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party.
But the proposed legislation is unlikely to be enacted given expected
opposition from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner,
the New Komeito party, in the House of Representatives, which the parties
control.
''Questioning and interrogating suspects is an extremely important
investigative method in Japan, where plea deals are not allowed, but it would
make questioning harder to carry out if it's fully recorded and filmed,'' said
Justice Minister Eisuke Mori, an LDP lawmaker.
While acknowledging that a slew of false accusation cases have taken place in
recent years, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura also said at a press
conference, ''The government cannot agree to full recording, although recording
to some extent may be allowable.''
Police have been partially recording and filming interrogations of criminal
suspects on a trial basis since September. The practice was introduced ahead of
the scheduled launch of a lay judge system this May, which will deal with
murder and other serious criminal cases.
The step is intended to verify the credibility of interrogation records and
prevent false accusations from forced confessions.
The DPJ and the SDP jointly submitted the amendment to the Diet on April 3. The
two parties apparently want full recording of interrogations to help prevent
trials being prolonged due to disputes over the credibility of confessions.
Some critics say the DPJ's call for full recording of interrogations has been
prompted by the recent investigation by Tokyo prosecutors of a political-funds
scandal involving Nishimatsu Construction Co.
The DPJ has criticized the prosecutors' investigation, which has led to the
arrest and indictment of a secretary of its leader Ichiro Ozawa for a violation
of the political funds control law, as an ''unfair'' exercise of investigative
power.
The DPJ submitted a similar bill in December 2007 but the bill was killed the
following year as it failed to pass the lower house.
Among the recent false accusation cases, a taxi driver in Toyama Prefecture was
convicted of rape after he had ''confessed'' to police, although he initially
denied the accusations during questioning.
However, a man arrested in another case has admitted that he was the culprit,
stirring criticism over the initial interrogation process on the taxi driver.
==Kyodo