The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday ordered the central government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to pay ?160 million in damages to a machine manufacturing company, ruling that the firm was wrongly accused of exporting equipment that could be converted into weapons without government approval.
The case involving Ohkawara Kakohki, a Yokohama-based manufacturer of spray dryers, has once again highlighted problems in the nation*s criminal justice system. In Japan, interrogations by police and prosecutors are conducted in closed rooms without the presence of defense lawyers, which has resulted in a number of coerced confessions and wrongful prosecutions of innocent individuals.
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