Prosecutors have sought a life sentence for Toshiya Fujita, a senior member of a crime ring called "Luffy" that is behind a series of robbery and fraud cases across the country. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02/05/japan/crime-legal/life-sentence-request-luffy/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #fraud #theft #philippines #luffy #gangs
The man who fatally shot former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to appeal his life imprisonment ruling. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02/03/japan/crime-legal/yamagami-trial-appeal/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #shinzoabe #tetsuyayamagami #japanesecourts #nara #unificationchurch #shinzoabeassassination
Japan's Supreme Court has dismissed a U.S. airman's appeal against his five-year prison sentence for kidnapping and sexually assaulting an underage girl in Okinawa Prefecture in 2023. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02/03/japan/crime-legal/okinawa-rejection-airman-appeal/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #us #japanesecourts #okinawa #usmilitary #sexcrimes #usbases #usjapanrelations #women039sissues #childabuse #supremecourt
A government panel’s subcommittee has approved the outline of a review of Japan’s retrial system that would continue to allow prosecutors to file appeals against a court’s decision to start a retrial. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02/03/japan/crime-legal/retrial-system-prosecutors-appeal/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #iwaohakamata #falseconvictions #justiceministry
Sri Lankan detainee Wishma Sandamali’s death from a combination of factors including dehydration and starvation at an immigration facility in Japan in 2021 could have been prevented, a doctor has testified in court. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/29/japan/crime-legal/sri-lanka-detainee-death-doctor-prevention/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #srilanka #wishmasandamali #nagoya #aichi #health #japanesecourts #immigration #death
The Supreme Court has instructed courts across Japan to reconsider the use of handcuffs and waist ropes on defendants when entering courtrooms for criminal trials, sources have said. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/29/japan/crime-legal/defendants-court-handcuffs-ropes/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #supremecourt #layjudges
A Japanese court has rejected a retrial request for a decades-old case that sought to prove the unconstitutionality of sentencing a man believed to have had Hansen’s disease to death behind closed doors. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/28/japan/crime-legal/kumamoto-retrial-ruling/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #discrimination #constitution #leprosy #kumamoto
A Tokyo court has ordered Pyongyang to pay a total of ¥88 million in compensation to four people lured to North Korea by a propaganda program promising a "paradise on Earth." https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/27/japan/crime-legal/japan-court-ruling-north-korea-pay/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #northkoreajapanrelations #humanrights
The Supreme Court has confirmed a lower court ruling in favor of the state in a damages lawsuit filed by 27 children of hibakusha in Hiroshima. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/26/japan/court-rejects-suit-hibakusha-children/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #hiroshima #atomicbombings #japanesecourts
The former chairman of publishing giant Kadokawa has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison for bribes linked to sponsorship contracts for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/22/japan/crime-legal/kadokawa-ruling/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #2020tokyoolympics #corruption #businessethics #kadokawa #japanesecourts #haruyukitakahashi
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government's responsibility is "extremely grave" in her meeting with victims of forced sterilization conducted under the country's now-defunct eugenics law. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/22/japan/society/japan-forced-sterilization-victims/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #society #sanaetakaichi #eugenicprotectionlaw #eugenics #discrimination #japanesecourts #supremecourt
A high court has dismissed a petition seeking to halt the operations of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kyushu Electric Power’s Genkai nuclear power station in southwestern Japan. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/22/japan/crime-legal/nuclear-plant-halt-petition-dismissed/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #kyushuelectric #nuclearenergy #genkai #saga
Tetsuya Yamagami, the man who assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Nara in July 2022, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Nara District Court. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/21/japan/crime-legal/abe-assassin-trial-ruling/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #tetsuyayamagami #shinzoabe #japanesecourts #nara
The Justice Ministry's draft proposal to review Japan's retrial system does not ban public prosecutors from filing appeals against court decisions granting retrials despite calls for the practice to be abolished. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/21/japan/crime-legal/retrial-system-draft-proposal/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #justiceministry
The Nara District Court is set to rule on Tetsuya Yamagami, the man standing trial for the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, bringing the high-profile case to an end. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/20/japan/crime-legal/japan-yamagami-trial-ruling-preview/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #tetsuyayamagami #shinzoabe #japanesecourts #nara #guns
A court has given a man a suspended sentence for transporting a then-high school student to Myanmar last year to have him engage in fraud despite knowing that the boy had been kidnapped. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/20/japan/crime-legal/student-myanmar-sentence-court/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #miyagi #japanesecourts #myanmar #highschools #fraud #kidnappings
The Osaka District Court on Friday dismissed a request from three death-row inmates for the state to ban executions by hanging. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/16/japan/crime-legal/osaka-court-hanging-executions/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #osaka #japanesecourts #deathpenalty
An official died and another was injured after a resident who was subject to a court-ordered eviction stabbed them at an apartment in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward, Tokyo police said. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/16/japan/crime-legal/court-official-conducting-eviction-stabbed/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #realestate #tokyo #suginami #stabbings #japanesepolice
Many retrial requests filed by relatives of former defendants in serious crimes whose convictions had become final face difficulties as petitioners have died or grown very old amid protracted procedures. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/13/japan/crime-legal/retrial-requests-relatives-difficulties/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #justiceministry
A new program began in Japan that offers comprehensive legal assistance basically for free for victims of serious crimes — including murder and sexual offenses — and bereaved families. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/13/japan/crime-legal/legal-support-crime-victims/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #sexcrimes #japanesecourts