Court Rejects Japanese Mayor's Retrial Plea over Bribery

Nagoya, Feb. 1 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese high court on Wednesday rejected a request for a retrial by the mayor of Minokamo in the central prefecture of Gifu who had been convicted for receiving bribes.

Mihoko Tanabe, presiding judge at Nagoya High Court, turned down the plea by the 38-year-old mayor, Hiroto Fujii, by rejecting new evidence provided by his lawyers to challenge the credibility of the briber's claim. Fujii filed an objection against the decision.

Fujii was arrested on suspicion of bribery in June 2014, a year after becoming the nation's youngest mayor.

Nagoya District Court acquitted Fujii, but the high court sentenced him to 18 months in prison suspended for three years, a ruling that became final in December 2017.

Fujii, who had consistently proclaimed his innocence, made the retrial plea in November 2021.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]