Unilateral Procedure for Crime of Conspiracy

Dismissing consistent protest of the opposite parties, Liberal Democratic Party and other subsidiary parties passed a notorious bill of revised Organized Crime Punishment Law, which enable law enforcement section to arrest people with suspect of crime of conspiracy before activating a crime, in Committee of Justice in House of Representatives on Friday. The bill is expected to pass the House next Tuesday and approved in this ordinary session of the Diet. Through the discussion in the Diet, Shinzo Abe administration failed in removing fundamental concern that the police could arrest innocent ordinary people only with suspect of preparing for a crime.

As seen in previous Diet procedures in important bills, the leading parties cut off the discussion halfway and unilaterally proceeded to the voting. The scene reminded of obsolete scenario of a soap opera. One LDP member of the Committee orally submitted a move to conclude the discussion and required the Chairman Junji Suzuki, who was with LDP inevitably non-neutral, to have voting on the bill. While Committee members with the opposite parties rushed to the Chairman not to declare the voting, Suzuki demanded standing-ups of the members positive to the bill. The opposite lawmakers chanted that the voting was void.

The greatest talking point of the bill was whether the law was needed or not. Abe administration has been trying to persuade the public with necessity of punishing crime of preparing terrorism to ratify United Nations Convention for Preventing Organized Crime. As far as the Convention was not designated to prevent terrorism, the opposite parties argued that the Japanese government could ratify the Convention without punishing “crime of preparing terrorism or other things.” Because Abe administration could not make definite argument of necessity for it, the opposites doubted that the law enforcement authorities were creating new room for arbitral investigation on its designated target, which could include innocent people.

The staffs of Abe administration have been explaining that ordinary people with no relationship with criminal organization could not be punished, because such people would not be the object of investigation. The opposite parties argued that the people could not be determined as suspects before they were investigated. Fundamental question on the government is whether they fully reviewed the failure of pre-war Japan, which police arrested a number of innocent people with suspect of anti-government activities. It looks like that Japanese law enforcement authorities are resuming its arbitral power on criminal investigation.