18-month jail term sought for lawmaker Anri Kawai over vote-buying

I would still like to know where the other Y150 million that Abe and Asso and the LDP sent to them went. 29 million is only the tip of the iceberg.

Lock her up.

No so Kawaii now

"unprecedented malicious crime that jolted the foundations of democracy."

its a vey usual think to do in Japanese politics.

you'll have to jail all politics that ever participated in any Japanese election.

"unprecedented malicious crime that jolted the foundations of democracy."

a potential 18 month sentence doesn’t really seem to fit the allegations here.

And those politicians who willingly received the bribe?

18-month jail term sought for lawmaker Anri Kawai over vote-buying

riiiiiiight..........

So what about the other criminals in office embezzling, extorting, harassing, etc etc.......Why are none of them getting put away? Start off with Abe.

Buying votes is normal practice in Japan. Something went wrong here beyond what the article reports.

Receiving money is rarely punished, I think they must have pissed off some factions, since giving money to politicians is so common here, and politicians don't really need to hide that they are always loaded with cash.

Either way, they'll win an election again as soon as they are allowed to since they have good heritage and Japanese voters pretty much select their representatives based on heritage.

She also said she was not involved in the cash handout to one of the five individuals.

an admission of guilt right there. I didn’t actually hand the packages but....

although these practices are no doubt wide spread and pretty much part of the process, the result is a total loss of confidence in the democratic process ( along with he inevitable slide into cynicism ) that entails from a public in desperate in need of real leadership. That of course is if they care, and no doubt these types bank on them not.

The time however, should fit the crime here, and the heavy hand of law rooted in a forward thinking justice system is exactly what the doctor orders! Whether they can line that all up though, always remains to be seen.

She will be found guilty but will receive a suspended sentence because this is her first conviction and it is a non-violent crime (and society does not need to be protected from her by incarcerating her.) It's all in the matrix that the Japanese judges use. Anyone here - if they followed the formulae - would reach the same results without needing any special judicial training.