Tag - japanese-courts

 
 

JAPANESE COURTS

Plaintiff Satoshi Egura, 67, stands near the former site of the now-defunct Sumida Maternity Hospital in Tokyo's Sumida Ward on April 16. A mix-up at the hospital in 1958 led to Egura being raised by a couple who are not his biological parents.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 21, 2025
Tokyo government ordered to find man's birth parents 67 years after mix-up
The mix-up in 1958 at the now-defunct Sumida Maternity Hospital led to plaintiff Satoshi Egura being raised by another couple.
A 35-year-old mother was found guilty of attempted coercion by  repeatedly sending mobile messages to her daughter not to eat while being hospitalized.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2025
Japanese mother partially acquitted over abuse of daughter
Kasumi Nawata, 35, was found guilty of attempted coercion and sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years.
Lawyers for plaintiffs seeking compensation from the government over their deteriorated health due to working in an asbestos factory speak at a news conference in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025
High court overturns asbestos ruling, ordering government to pay ¥6 million
A Japanese court ruled in favor of an asbestos victim’s family, saying the government wrongly narrowed compensation criteria in 2019.
The Supreme Court ruled that the man's conduct could undermine public trust in the system and the sound operation of the bus service.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025
Japan bus driver steals $7, loses $84,000 pension
The city of Kyoto sacked the man after he was filmed by a bus security camera taking ¥1,000 in 2022.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks during a news conference at the Diet on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025
Japan to start discussions on reviewing retrial system Monday
A government advisory panel will start discussions Monday to review the country's retrial system for criminal cases in which guilty verdicts have become final, Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Friday.
A damages lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Fukuoka District Court, names four defendants including the group’s boss, 83-year-old Kenichi Shinoda and his second-in-command, 77-year-old Kiyoshi Takayama.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 16, 2025
Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza boss sued over fraud scheme in Fukuoka
The lawsuit names four defendants including the group’s boss, 83-year-old Kenichi Shinoda, better known as Shinobu Tsukasa.
The Tokyo Detention Center in the capital's Katsushika Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 13, 2025
Death penalty under renewed scrutiny in Japan
The punishment has broad public support in Japan, despite international criticism over how it is carried out.
The Unification Church's Tokyo headquarters in Shibuya Ward. The group is appealing a district court order stripping it of its religious corporation status.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 7, 2025
Unification Church appeals stripping of religious corporation status
The group argued that the district court order was decided as a foregone conclusion and ignored law and the facts.
Lawyer Shoichi Ibuski (right) speaks during a news conference in Tokyo along with Wayomi, younger sister of Wishma Sandamali who died in 2021 while in detention.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 4, 2025
Family of Sri Lankan woman who died in custody to sue Japan for footage
Attorney Shoichi Ibuski, representing the family, told reporters that the government's refusal suggests there may be “inconvenient information for immigration authorities.”
Hideko Hakamata (second from left), the sister of ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata, in the city of Shizuoka on Sept. 26 following a Shizuoka District Court's verdict finding him not guilty of a 1966 murder case. Lawyers for Iwao Hakamata plan to sue the central and prefectural governments for damages in August.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2025
Hakamata to sue central, prefectural governments in August
Lawyers for the ex-boxer — who was acquitted of a 1966 murder case last year — plan to file the lawsuits on Aug. 18, the date he was arrested 59 years ago.
A 37-year-old son of death-row inmate Masumi Hayashi, who goes by the pseudonym of Koji Hayashi, stands in front of the land of the family's previous house in January.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 2, 2025
Family fights for death-row retrial under Japan's 'snail-paced' system
Japan's current retrial system is often labeled the "unopenable door" because the chances of being granted a legal do-over are so slim.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks at a news conference earlier this month at the Justice Ministry in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 29, 2025
Japan justice minister calls for probe into 'unopenable' retrial system
The move comes after the acquittal of the world's longest-serving death row prisoner last year heightened scrutiny of the system.
Iwao Hakamata, a wrongfully convicted death-row inmate who was acquitted last year through a retrial, and his sister Hideko after a news conference in Tokyo in November 2019. Hakamata won compensation from Japan this week.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 27, 2025
Ex-judge fights Japan's 'unopenable door' retrial system
Hiroaki Murayama wants Japan's outdated retrial system to be fixed so that there will "be no more (Iwao) Hakamatas."
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and others attend a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 27, 2025
Opposition urges LDP to reinvestigate ties with Unification Church
The move comes following a court order to strip the group of its religious corporation status.
The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday found a former judge guilty of insider trading.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 26, 2025
Court convicts former judge over insider trading
Soichiro Sato was given two years in prison, suspended for four years, fined ¥1 million and ordered to pay an additional ¥10.2 million penalty.
Tatsuo Hashida (second from right), head of a group representing victims who suffered from having given large donations to the Unification Church in Kochi Prefecture, speaks during a news conference in Kochi on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 26, 2025
Unification Church victims voice joy over stripping of group's legal status
The Tokyo District Court stripped the controversial group of its religious corporation status on Tuesday.
Nobuya Fukumoto (far left), a lawyer for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, is surrounded by the media at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday after it ordered the group to be stripped of its religious corporation status.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 25, 2025
Tokyo court strips Unification Church of religious corporation status
The order against the group, heavily criticized for its coercive tactics in soliciting donations, removes its tax-exempt status.
A lawyer for ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata speaks at a news conference at the Shizuoka Prefectural Government office on Tuesday. The Shizuoka District Court has awarded Hakamata, who was acquitted of a 1966 murder case in a retrial last year, some ¥217 million ($1.44 million) in compensation for being unjustly detained for over 47 years.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 25, 2025
Hakamata gets ¥217M in compensation after acquittal in 1966 murder case
The amount is the biggest such compensation granted in the country, according to the lawyers of ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata, who spent over 47 years in detention.
Plaintiffs and their supporters hold signs reading "unconstitutional" after the Osaka High Court's ruling on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 25, 2025
Another Japan court finds same-sex marriage denial unconstitutional
The Osaka High Court's ruling follows similar judgments made by the Sapporo, Tokyo, Fukuoka and Nagoya high courts.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2023
Charges dropped again over death of detained Sri Lankan woman
The decision by the Nagoya District Prosecutor's Office effectively ends its probe into the case of Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali.

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