ご指名質問回答deal a blow (pear)
ご指名質問に挑戦します。質問の該当箇所は以下の赤文字部分です。
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20110926/1317040879
3 of Ozawa's aides convicted over political funding violations
Three former aides of a Japanese ruling party powerbroker were convicted Monday in a political funding scandal, dealing a further blow to his status in the struggling party ahead of his own trial.
Ichiro Ozawa engineered the Democratic Party of Japan’s rise to power in 2009, but was charged this year with political funding violations for allegedly overseeing false accounting by his aides.
The Tokyo District Court gave the former aides suspended prison terms ranging from one to three years for accepting 100 million yen in illegal donations from a construction company and for failing to register a 400 million yen loan from Ozawa to his funding body in a 2004 Tokyo land deal.
All three aides have denied any wrongdoing, as has Ozawa, who says he is confident of proving his innocence at his own trial, which starts Oct 6.
Opposition leaders were quick to attack Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s 3-week-old government after the ruling.
Opposition Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Nobuteru Ishihara said the aides’ convictions were serious and “their boss, Ichiro Ozawa, bears even more serious political responsibility.”
He demanded that Noda, as ruling party leader, take appropriate steps such as asking Ozawa to resign.
Noda declined to comment, citing the judiciary’s independence.
The scandal has damaged Ozawa’s ambitions to become prime minister, and he remains unpopular with voters who widely see him as an old-school, backroom wheeler-dealer.
Nevertheless, Ozawa, 69, continues to wield a great deal of influence and has a loyal core of supporters within the party. Last year, he lost a party leadership vote to then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan, but several months later he played a key role in pressuring Kan to resign.
Ozawa will stand trial after a judicial panel composed of ordinary citizens sought his indictment, despite an earlier decision by prosecutors that there was insufficient evidence to proceed.
In Monday’s ruling, the aides’ sentences were all suspended for several years, meaning that none will go to prison unless they commit new crimes during that period.
One of the aides, Tomohiro Ishikawa, who is now a lawmaker, called the ruling unacceptable and said he will appeal. He also refused to give up his parliamentary seat.
“I will continue my political activity and keep fighting in court,” Ishikawa said, adding that he feared the conviction would affect Ozawa politically.
AP
・dealing a further blow to
deal a person a blow = deal a blow to a personで「人に一撃を加える」という意味なので（『新英和中辞典』第5版，研究社），そこにfurtherが加わることで「さらなる打撃を与えている」となります。
・engineeredengineerには「技術者」の他に「〈計画などを〉巧みに工作する，たくらむ：engineer a plot（計略をたくらむ）」という意味があります（『新英和中辞典』同上）。メディアに政治手腕や「政治とカネ」問題が取沙汰される小沢氏ならではの表現ではないでしょうか。
・overseeing false accounting
overseeは「…を監督［監視］する」（『ジーニアス英和辞典』第3版，大修館書店），false acccountingは不正経理（英辞朗on the WEB）で，あわせて「（秘書たちの）政治資金規制法違反行為の監督」となります。
・suspended prison terms
英辞朗on the WEBにgiven a suspended prison term 「《be 〜》執行猶予付きの判決を受ける」とありました。
・register
「〈…を〉（正式に名簿などに）記載する」という意味で（『新英和中辞典』同上），今回は陸山会の小沢一郎氏からの借入金（4億円）の不記載です。
・the judiciary’s independence
judiciaryは「[the] 司法部，（国などの）司法組織」なので（『新英和中辞典』同上），the judiciary's independenceは司法権の独立だと考えられます。司法権の独立は政治的権力の司法に対する干渉を排除するものなので，前のNoda declined to commentとつながります。
・wield
「〈権力・武力などを〉ふるう，掌握する」という意味です（『新英和中辞典』同上）。小沢氏の権力が党内に与える影響はひきつづいていることがわかります。
・then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan
英辞朗on the WEBにthen-Governor「当時の知事」が載っていました。よって今回は「当時の首相菅直人氏」と訳せるでしょう。（ゼミ生 pear）
