Roles of を and に with predicate 参加させる


The following is taken from (page 71 of) the reading comprehension exercise
book 日本語総まとめ N1 読解. The context is that someone is giving their opinion on
裁判員制度.

>
> 裁判の内容を国民に広く開示すること自体は悪いことではないが、そもそも裁判の審理は、裁判官にしても検察官、弁護士にしても、専門の勉強をして、難しい試験を受けてきている人がやるべきもので、
> **それを一般人にも参加させる** というのは、専門家としての責任逃れのような気がする。

I am having difficulty understanding それ, を and に in the part in bold font.
Let's consider the dictionary form 参加する. Its target is indicated by に, so
それを一般人にも参加させる could mean "let それ join ordinary people". But regarding the
context of 裁判員制度, 一般人 should be the subject of 参加する. So let's suppose に here
indicates who carries out the action in causative form. But then what is the
role of を? And in any case, what does それ refer to?




This それを is a fixed phrase meaning "despite that", "yet" or "nevertheless".
It's interchangeable with それなのに here, and it's not part of the causative
construction.

See also:

  * <https://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%9D%E3%82%8C%E3%82%92>
  * <https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%9D%E3%82%8C%E3%82%92-2057944>
  * [Understanding それをこいつは](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/94247/5010)
  * [The meaning of それを昨日、今日、司教になったようなのが！](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/23899/5010)




This それを is a fixed phrase meaning "despite that", "yet" or "nevertheless".
It's interchangeable with それなのに here, and it's not part of the causative
construction.

See also:

  * <https://jisho.org/word/%E3%81%9D%E3%82%8C%E3%82%92>
  * <https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%9D%E3%82%8C%E3%82%92-2057944>
  * [Understanding それをこいつは](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/94247/5010)
  * [The meaning of それを昨日、今日、司教になったようなのが！](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/23899/5010)

