ID :
79239
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 10:10
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/79239
The shortlink copeid
Witnesses questioned on 2nd day of lay judge trial with interpreters
SAITAMA, Japan, Sept. 9 Kyodo - A victim and the mother of a 20-year-old Filipino defendant charged with robbery were questioned Wednesday during the second day of the first lay judge trial involving interpreters at the Saitama District Court.
The two Tagalog interpreters took turns in interpreting and helped each other
when one missed words or had problems translating when the 27-year-old male
victim testified that he had been assaulted and robbed by the defendant and his
accomplices and also when the defendant's mother, 40, gave testimony on his
childhood and family background.
While prosecutors and defense counsel focused on the details of the case, such
as the degree of injuries the victim sustained and how the defendant was
raised, four female and two male lay judges asked questions not usually heard
in Japanese court rooms.
''Do you love your son?'' one female lay judge asked the mother, adding,
''Would you be sad if he went away?''
The mother, who lives in Japan, answered ''Yes'' in Japanese and appeared
tearful when she said she wanted to hold her son.
The mother was asked by the court to speak in Tagalog, but the defense counsel
asked the court to allow her to speak in Japanese instead. She gave her answers
mostly in short phrases of Japanese but occasionally answered in Tagalog as
well.
The court assigned two interpreters instead of the usual one for the trial, and
the move was believed to be aimed at alleviating the interpreters' workload and
avoid misinterpretations during the trial that extends over four days from
Tuesday.
The defendant, who is charged with assaulting two people with two other
accomplices on a street in Saitama Prefecture last December and taking a total
of 37,000 yen in cash and other items in two separate incidents, pleaded guilty
on the first day of the court hearing.
As he was a minor at the time of the crime, his identity is being withheld.
While the lay judge system itself has attracted public interest when it was
introduced in May, the focus on the Saitama case is on how well the
interpreters can convey the tone of remarks made in court, with some experts
voicing concerns that the non-professional judges' decisions could be swayed by
subtle the nuances in the remarks.
The interpreters sometimes had to ask the speakers to repeat their remarks as
they could not catch them, but the overall hearing ended without any major
problems.
As of April, there were over 4,000 people registered as courtroom interpreters
covering 58 languages, according to the Supreme Court. No special tests are
required to become a courtroom interpreter, but language skills are taken into
account in enlisting them, it said.
==Kyodo
2009-09-09 23:43:45
The two Tagalog interpreters took turns in interpreting and helped each other
when one missed words or had problems translating when the 27-year-old male
victim testified that he had been assaulted and robbed by the defendant and his
accomplices and also when the defendant's mother, 40, gave testimony on his
childhood and family background.
While prosecutors and defense counsel focused on the details of the case, such
as the degree of injuries the victim sustained and how the defendant was
raised, four female and two male lay judges asked questions not usually heard
in Japanese court rooms.
''Do you love your son?'' one female lay judge asked the mother, adding,
''Would you be sad if he went away?''
The mother, who lives in Japan, answered ''Yes'' in Japanese and appeared
tearful when she said she wanted to hold her son.
The mother was asked by the court to speak in Tagalog, but the defense counsel
asked the court to allow her to speak in Japanese instead. She gave her answers
mostly in short phrases of Japanese but occasionally answered in Tagalog as
well.
The court assigned two interpreters instead of the usual one for the trial, and
the move was believed to be aimed at alleviating the interpreters' workload and
avoid misinterpretations during the trial that extends over four days from
Tuesday.
The defendant, who is charged with assaulting two people with two other
accomplices on a street in Saitama Prefecture last December and taking a total
of 37,000 yen in cash and other items in two separate incidents, pleaded guilty
on the first day of the court hearing.
As he was a minor at the time of the crime, his identity is being withheld.
While the lay judge system itself has attracted public interest when it was
introduced in May, the focus on the Saitama case is on how well the
interpreters can convey the tone of remarks made in court, with some experts
voicing concerns that the non-professional judges' decisions could be swayed by
subtle the nuances in the remarks.
The interpreters sometimes had to ask the speakers to repeat their remarks as
they could not catch them, but the overall hearing ended without any major
problems.
As of April, there were over 4,000 people registered as courtroom interpreters
covering 58 languages, according to the Supreme Court. No special tests are
required to become a courtroom interpreter, but language skills are taken into
account in enlisting them, it said.
==Kyodo
2009-09-09 23:43:45
