Juror sues in Japan over murder case trauma

TOKYO: A woman is suing the Japanese government for mental trauma she said she suffered after looking at graphic pictures while serving on a jury in a brutal murder trial, reports said yesterday.

The plaintiff, who is in her 60s, is seeking 2 million yen ( US$ 20,000) in damages after seeing colour photographs of a bloodied body and listening during a nine- day trial to audio recordings of the victim screaming.

The woman, who has not been named, vomited after examining evidence in the case and has suffered insomnia and flashbacks since being part of a civilian panel that presided over the case alongside three judges, media said.

She has received medical treatment since being diagnosed as suffering from an acute stress disorder following the trial in late March, in which the 46-year- old male defendant was sentenced to death for murder.

In Japan crimes are usually tried by a panel of professional judges, but in 2009 a lay judge system was introduced in which a randomly selected panel of eligible voters sits alongside judges to issue both verdicts and sentences in certain serious cases, including murder and arson. The damages case, lodged at Sendai District Court in northeastern Japan, is the first of its kind against the system, Japanese media reported.

The suit is also demanding a review of the lay judge system to prevent members of the public from being exposed to such graphic evidence in future.

The case alleges that the system violates constitutional guarantees of the right to pursue happiness.

“I hope to be the last member of a jury feeling stress during a trial,” she said, according to the Asahi Shimbun. — AFP