TOYAMA--In an effort to help suspects who have been falsely charged, the Toyama-ken Bar Association has decided to send on-duty lawyers to suspects free of charge more than once as long as they continue to deny allegations against them, according to sources.

The decision was made in response to the acquittal of a former taxi driver who served about two years in prison for sex crimes he did not commit.

Under the current duty attorney system, lawyers are dispatched to suspects at their request, with only the initial consultation provided free of charge.

A spokesman of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations said it was quite rare for a local bar association to revise its rules to enable itself to send lawyers to suspects free of charge more than once.

"Under the duty attorney system, local bar associations in most prefectures send lawyers to suspects upon their request, and only the initial consultation is given free of charge," the spokesman said.

Hiroshi Yanagihara, a 41-year-old former tax driver from Himi, Toyama Prefecture, was arrested on suspicion of attempted rape of a woman and rape of a woman in April and May 2002, respectively.

A lawyer for Yanagihara met him two days after the arrest as an on-duty attorney. However, Yanagihara did not have any chance to speak with the lawyer until July that year, when a court chose him to represent the former taxi driver.

Yanagihara insisted that he had been coerced to confess to the crimes due to the police's aggressive questioning during the period when he had no chance to meet with the lawyer.

A report released by the prefectural bar association's investigation committee also pointed to flaws in the current duty attorney system, under which a duty attorney is assigned to meet with a suspect free of charge only once.