OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court ordered the state Thursday to pay 2 million yen in damages for allowing prosecutors to read letters that two men accused of robbery and injuring a woman had written to their lawyers while in the Osaka Detention House.
The damages were awarded to two lawyers, who had demanded 20 million yen from the state. They had argued that allowing prosecutors to read the letters was a violation of the prisoners' right to request a defense and of the constitutional guarantee of the confidentiality of correspondence.
"The contents of letters from prisoners to their lawyers should not be checked in detail, and it is illegal to keep records of the letters and give them to prosecutors. However, it cannot be called a violation of the Constitution," said presiding Judge Ryoichi Yagi.