If it is unable to return a seized article as the whereabouts of the person who is to receive the seized article returned is unknown or on any other grounds, a public prosecutor must give public notice to that effect by the means provided by Cabinet Order.
押収物の還付を受けるべき者の所在が判らないため、又はその他の事由によつて、その物を還付することができない場合には、検察官は、その旨を政令で定める方法によつて公告しなければならない。
The preceding paragraph also applies when a seized article is to be returned pursuant to the provisions of Article 123, paragraph (1) or Article 124, paragraph (1) as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 222, paragraph (1) or the provisions of Article 220, paragraph (2). In this case, the term "public prosecutor" in the same paragraph is replaced with "public prosecutor or a judicial police officer."
When a request for return of a seized article is not made within six months from the day on which public notice is given pursuant to the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs, the article vests in the national treasury.
前二項の規定による公告をした日から六箇月以内に還付の請求がないときは、その物は、国庫に帰属する。
Even within the period referred to in the preceding paragraph, articles of no value may be discarded, and articles that are inconvenient for storage may be sold at a public auction and the proceeds received may be kept in safekeeping.
前項の期間内でも、価値のない物は、これを廃棄し、保管に不便な物は、これを公売してその代価を保管することができる。
Read this with the articles around it
public prosecutor
検察官
The official who brings a prosecution (公訴) for a crime before a court (Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 247), and who may decide not to prosecute where, in view of the offender's character, age and circumstances, the gravity and circumstances of the offence and what happened after it, prosecution is not needed (Article 248). In criminal cases a public prosecutor asks the court to apply the law correctly and oversees the carrying out of its judgments; and, as the representative of the public interest, a public prosecutor also does the work other laws and regulations assign to a public prosecutor, which is not limited to criminal cases (Public Prosecutors Office Act, Article 4). A public prosecutor may investigate any crime (Article 6, paragraph (1)). Public prosecutors work through the public prosecutors offices (検察庁): the Supreme, High, District and Local Public Prosecutors Offices (Article 1).
Written by AI using Code of Criminal Procedure, Arts. 247, 248 and Public Prosecutors Office Act, Arts. 1, 4, 6 as a reference.