On September 13, 2023, the ninth session of the impeachment trial against Judge Motoichi Okaguchi was held.

1. The procedures carried out on this day are as follows.

• Oral update
• Announcement of summary of newly adopted evidence requested by the Judge Prosecution Committee
• Examination of witnesses in application for defense attorney (Ichi Yamamoto, Professor of Law, Graduate School of Law, Keio University, Constitutional Law)

During cross-examination, two screens prepared by the defense attorney were set up to face both the jury and the audience seats, and these screens were used.

2. Regarding the absence of one impeachment judge

The trial was held with 13 members, as Juror Takeshi Kaina (Constitutional and General Assembly) was absent.

3. Next court date

The next court date has been set for Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. Examination of witnesses applied for by a defense attorney (Takaaki Matsumiya, Specially Appointed Professor of Criminal Law, Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Law) is scheduled.

On July 26, 2023, the eighth impeachment trial against Judge Motoichi Okaguchi was held.

1. The procedures that took place on this day are as follows.
   ・Acceptance or disapproval of grounds for prosecution for which approval or disapproval was withheld (Grounds for Prosecution No. 1, 5) Adopted as evidence for some of the evidence requested by the Judges Prosecution Committee for which a decision on acceptance or rejection was withheld・Opening statement by defense counsel (contents of defense counsel’s opening statement will be posted later)
   ・The request for evidence by the defense counsel, the opinion of the Judges' Prosecution Committee in response to this, and the adoption of all the evidence requested by the defense counsel (all three witnesses were also adopted)
   ・Announcement of the gist of the part of the evidence that was adopted
2. Attorney's Opening Statement and Examination of Evidence Claimed by Attorney At the time of the attorney's opening statement and the examination of evidence at attorney's request, two screens independently prepared by the attorney will be presented to the judges and the audience. I set it up for both and used it.
   In addition, in the opening statement of the judge's prosecution committee and the examination of the evidence requested by the committee, there was only one screen facing the lay judge, and nothing could be seen from the audience, so the defense counsel decided that the trial would be open to the public ( This measure was taken in light of the objection that it was against the spirit of Article 82, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution and Article 26 of the Judges' Impeachment Law.
3. Regarding the absence of one impeachment judge, Judge Yuji Yamamoto (LDP/People) was absent, and 13 judges were present. Since the quorum of 5 lay judges for each House of Representatives was exceeded, the reserve members were not recruited. Judge Yuji Yamamoto has been absent for the fourth time.
4. Next trial date The next trial date has been designated as Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 2:00 pm. Examination of evidence to be submitted by the judge's prosecution committee and examination of evidence to be submitted by defense counsel are scheduled.

On June 14, 2023, the 7th impeachment trial against Judge Motoichi Okaguchi was held.

1. The procedures that took place on this day are as follows.

・Update the argument

・ Adoption of evidence for some of the evidence requested by the prosecution committee that was withheld from adoption

・Announcement of the summary of the evidence adopted

2. The screen used to announce the summary of the evidence was in a form that could not be seen at all from the audience, just like the second hearing. The defense attorney requested that the full text of the evidence be read aloud, as it could not be said that the contents of the evidence had been clarified in an open court by announcing the summary in this manner. In response to this, a panel of lay judges was held, but the defense attorney's request was not accepted, and evidence was examined by the method of notifying the summary.

3 Absence of one impeachment judge

Judge Yuji Yamamoto (LDP/People) was absent, and it was held with 13 lay judges. Since the quorum of 5 lay judges for each House of Representatives was exceeded, the reserve members were not recruited. This is the third time Judge Yuji Yamamoto has been absent.

4. The next date has been set as Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at 2:00 pm. Attorneys will make opening statements.

On May 24, 2023, the sixth impeachment trial against Judge Motoichi Okaguchi was held.

1. The procedures that took place on this day are as follows.
   • Examination of a witness by Judge Kaya Yoshizaki, former secretary-general of the Tokyo High Court
   • Examination of a witness by Judge Shoji Miyata, secretary-general of the Sendai High Court
2. Absence of two impeachment judges
   • Judge Yuji Yamamoto (Liberal Democratic Party) and Kazunori Tanaka (Liberal Democratic Party) were absent, and 12 lay judges were present. Since the quorum of 5 lay judges for each House of Representatives was exceeded, the reserve members were not recruited.
3. The next date has been specified as Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at 2:00 pm. Procedures such as a decision to accept or reject the evidence requested by the Judges' Prosecution Committee are expected to be carried out.

On April 19, 2023, the fifth impeachment trial against Judge Motoichi Okaguchi was held.
1. The procedures that took place on this day are as follows.
・Renewal of arguments ・Examination of witnesses of bereaved family members of criminal victims 2 The next date has been set as Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at 2:00 pm. It is expected that the proceedings will continue to examine the evidence requested and adopted by the prosecution committee.

On March 15, 2023, the fourth date of the impeachment trial against Judge Motoichi Okaguchi was held.
1. The procedures that took place on this day are as follows.
・Renewal of arguments ・Clarification by prosecution committee in response to defense counsel's clarification ・Witness examination of bereaved families of criminal victims it was done. It is expected that the proceedings will continue to examine the evidence requested and adopted by the prosecution committee.

On February 8, 2023, the third impeachment trial against Judge Motoichi Okaguchi was held.

1. The procedures that took place on this day are as follows.

・Update the argument

・ Opinions of the judges' prosecution committee and defense counsel regarding the acceptance or rejection of evidence whose acceptance was withheld at the previous hearing

With the exception of the two Supreme Court decisions, the impeachment court withheld the decision to accept or deny the documents that the defense counsel disagreed with and the evidence that they objected to the interrogation.

・Explanation demanded by the defense attorney (Explanation by the prosecution committee will follow next time)

・Examination of witnesses by lawyers representing the bereaved families of victims of criminal cases

2 Absence of two impeachment judges

Judge Yuji Yamamoto (Liberal Democratic Party) and Kazunori Tanaka (Liberal Democratic Party) were absent, and 12 lay judges were present.

Since the quorum of 5 lay judges for each House of Representatives was exceeded, the reserve members were not recruited.

3. The next date has been set as Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 2:00 pm.

It is expected that the proceedings will continue to examine the evidence requested and adopted by the prosecution committee.

On November 30, 2022, the second impeachment trial against Judge Motoichi Okaguchi was held.

1 The procedures that took place on this day are as follows.

・Update the argument

・Explanation by the prosecution committee in response to the clarification request previously submitted by the defense counsel, and the defense counsel's statement of opinion in response to this

・Opening statement by the prosecution committee

・Request for evidence by the prosecution committee, defense counsel's opinion on this, and adoption of evidence without objection

・Notice of summary of submitted evidence

Among the proceedings that took place that day, the most controversial points were: (1) the prosecution committee announced that it was prosecuting a total of 13 grounds for prosecution as a single act; It is that I stopped at the announcement of the summary instead of reading the full text.

2 On the unity of action

(1) The grounds for prosecution in the indictment against Judge Okaguchi are (1) a total of 10 posts and remarks made by Judge Okaguchi regarding the murder case and his bereaved family, starting with a post citing a link to the judgment of the murder case, and (2) his pet dog. Of these, a total of 4 cases, 3 cases of ① and 1 case of ②, were covered by the prosecution period stipulated in Article 12 of the Judge Impeachment Law ( Since the prosecution was carried out after three years), the legality of using that act as a ground for prosecution has become an issue.

The prosecution committee explained to the effect that the time period had not expired because it was integrated with other acts. When I asked for an explanation, the prosecution committee explained that "all 13 acts have unity."

(2) In criminal cases, acts that can be evaluated as multiple acts are often regarded as one act due to their unity, and one crime is established. Criminal acts such as assault, injury, and murder usually involve multiple acts of perpetration, but a typical example is to regard them as a single act as a whole and establish a single crime.

In this case, the judgment criteria are "temporal continuity", "spatial proximity", and "commonality of actions". For example, in the case of assault, injury, murder, etc., the time and place are usually close, and there is a commonality in that they are perpetrators of a specific target.

(3) However, in the case of Mr. Okaguchi, such an interpretation is almost impossible.

In the first place, grounds for prosecution (1) and (2) are posts about completely unrelated cases, and the oldest and most recent of the 13 grounds for prosecution are nearly two years old. In the first place, the grounds for prosecution are described separately for (1) and (2), and disciplinary action by the Supreme Court was given for a certain fact in (1) and a certain fact in (2), respectively, and (1) and (2) are separate acts. I am evaluating. The setting up of a prosecution panel is clearly unreasonable.

The prosecution committee has stated that the purpose of this setting is that "overall, it can be said that it corresponds to delinquency that should significantly lose the prestige of a judge" and "because it considers the repetitiveness of the act to be important". However, even if there are facts constituting part of the former, it is not a reasonable reason for the expiration of the prosecution period, and it is sufficient to point out the latter as circumstances in the course of facts, and it is a ground for prosecution. need not be listed as In the end, I have to say that it is a sophistication to make the prosecution period of three years meaningless.

(4) The composition of such a prosecution panel is highly problematic.

A. Firstly, such an idea leads to the imposition of disadvantageous measures against the overall character of the prosecuted person itself, and there is a danger of violating the very basis of modern criminal law, which is to "judge the act." The idea of punishing the personality itself has a history of racist penalties due to eugenics and the purges of dictatorships as "counter-revolutions", and is a concept that is denied by modern criminal law. . The idea of the prosecution committee this time denies the independence of individual acts and sees the overall attitude itself as a problem, and the idea deviates from the basics of criminal law.

B. First, in determining whether or not to prosecute judges in the future, even separate acts over several years are regarded as "delinquency that should significantly undermine the dignity of a judge as a whole." could render the prosecution period provision meaningless. In extreme cases, judges are at risk of being prosecuted at a later date, no matter how many years ago they committed an act, which could have a major chilling effect.

(5) We will continue to point out this problem and insist that it should not be recognized as a single act at the judgment stage at the latest.

3 About the reading of the full text of the evidence

(1) In criminal proceedings, as a general rule, the entire text of evidence is read aloud. Moreover, since impeachment trials examine the suitability of judges under public scrutiny, it is necessary to clarify the contents of the submitted evidence in open court. If the defendant does not contest a criminal case, it is often the case that the statement of the summary is substituted, but this is based on the premise that the defense counsel agrees. In the case of lay judge trials, the entire text is read aloud in most cases, and on the premise that the entire text is read aloud, there are cases where the evidence itself is compiled in the form of a report according to the content of the reading.

(2) At this time, during the preliminary consultation, the defense counsel requested the prosecution committee to maintain the full reading in this report format, but was refused. Nevertheless, I have to say that the attitude of the prosecution committee, which insists on announcing the summary, is questionable. On this point, the lay judges requested that the full text be read aloud, but unfortunately the impeachment court also decided to conduct the examination of evidence by the method of notifying the summary.

(3) In addition, on the SNS posted by the audience, the screen used for announcing the summary (which made it possible to check the evidence against the screen) was completely invisible from the audience. There were voices of doubt.

4. The next date has been set as Wednesday, February 8, 2023 at 2:00 pm. It is expected that the proceedings will continue to examine the evidence requested and adopted by the prosecution committee.

On June 16, 2021, the Judge Indictment Committee prosecuted Judge Kiichi Okaguchi against the Judge Impeachment Court.

On July 29, the same year, the Impeachment Court issued a decision to suspend the duties of Mr. Okaguchi (decision that "the duties of the criminal charge will be suspended until the final trial of this court").

After that, four pre-meetings (October 5, 2021, December 15, 2022, January 21, 2022) were held at the Second Annex of the House of Councilors.

Initially, the Judge Impeachment Court had indicated that it would like to end by then, as some of the judges may change in the upper house election in July 2022, but after that, it was in full swing. It was informed that the policy was changed to the effect that the trial would be carried over after the Upper House election.

Some of the evidence to be requested by the Judge Indictment Committee has already been disclosed to the defense counsel in advance, but the handling of evidence documents that the defense counsel disagrees with for reasons such as "not related to the reason for prosecution" has been decided. No, the consent or disagreement of the Judge Indictment Committee with respect to the evidence of the defense counsel's claim has not been disclosed.

In the preliminary meeting, the first trial will be held from 1:30 pm on March 2, 2022, and the opening procedure (personal question of the prosecutor, reading of the reason for the prosecution by the prosecution committee, defense of the reason for the prosecution) It was decided to make an explanation from a person and a statement from the criminal charge and the defense counsel), but after that, only one meeting is scheduled for each of March and April of the same year, and the second The trial date after the round has not been set.

The defense team (nine people including the chief defense counsel, Masaharu Nishimura) predicts that about two more trials will be held before the election to the hospital, and the prosecution committee will make an opening statement and request evidence, the defense counsel's opinion, and the defense counsel. The witness interrogation of the Judge Indictment Committee's application is expected to be carried over after September 2022, although the evidence documents that have been agreed upon will be investigated.

As mentioned above, it is expected that the impeachment trial will be unprecedentedly long.