A government bill on judicial reform to be submitted to the current Diet session stipulates a maximum penalty of one year in prison or 500,000 yen in fines for lay judges who fail to observe confidentiality.

Another law will also be revised to raise the penalty for members of committees for the inquest of prosecution for leaking trial secrets from the current maximum fine of 10,000 yen to the same penalty as for the lay judges, according to an outline of the bill obtained by Kyodo News. Lay judges will be voters who are asked to hear criminal trials along with professional judges.

The government and ruling parties will submit a package of related bills to the Diet after the Cabinet endorses them on Feb. 27. The introduction of lay judges, the main pillar of the reform, is aimed at involving citizens in the judicial process.

Trial panels under the new judicial system will in principle consist of three professional and six lay judges who will rule on serious criminal cases. The system will be implemented in 2009 at the latest, after the public has a period of no longer than five years to familiarize itself with the new system.