OSAKA -- Some 300 people gathered at a symposium Sunday to discuss and raise public awareness of the plight of crime victims, criticizing police inaction, excessive media coverage and lack of access to information about their own cases.
The gathering was the second of its kind organized by a national group of crime victims established in January to establish rights for crime victims and create a system for supporting their recovery. Their first symposium was held in Tokyo.
Isao Okamura, 71, the group's representative and a former vice president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, said that although a package of legislation to protect the rights of crime victims was enacted earlier this year, it means very little to crime victims who are disallowed from speaking even a word during a criminal trial.