Opinion to Request Partial Amendments to the Act on Penal Detention Facilities and Treatment of Inmates and Detainees and the Code of Criminal Procedure In Response to the Conclusions of the Committee against Torture
April 17, 2008
Japan Federation of Bar Associations
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About this Opinion
On 18 May 2007, the Committee against Torture (the CAT) issued its Conclusions and recommendations to the government of Japan on issues including the abolishment of Daiyo Kangoku (the substitute prison system), the thorough separation of investigation and detention functions, and the transparency of interrogations, etc. The CAT requests the government of Japan to provide information in response to the Conclusions within one year.
On 17 April 2008, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations drafted its "Opinion to Request Partial Revisions to the Act on Penal Detention Facilities and Treatment of Inmates and Detainees and the Code of Criminal Procedure In Response to the Conclusions of the Committee against Torture" and submitted it to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the House of Councillors, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Justice and the Commissioner General of National Police Agency on 22 to 24 of April 2008. This Opinion clarifies concrete details of the institutional reforms which the Conclusions requested the Government of Japan to ensure in paragraph 15 “Daiyo Kangoku (detention in the substitute prison system)” and paragraph 16 "Interrogation rules and confessions" of the Conclusions.
