Court-appointed lawyers acting as prosecutors demanded Friday that Ichiro Ozawa be sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly violating the Political Funds Control Law.
During the 15th session of the former Democratic Party of Japan president's trial at the Tokyo District Court, the prosecutors charged that Ozawa should be held criminally responsible for conspiring with three of his former secretaries, including independent lawmaker Tomohiro Ishikawa, to falsify his political fund management body's reports in 2004 and 2005 over a ¥400 million land deal in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.
In seeking the three-year prison term, the prosecutors described Ozawa's actions as "vicious" and said he was likely to be a repeat offender.