Japan Prosecutors Challenge Retrial Order for 1984 Robbery, Murder

Osaka, March 6 (Jiji Press)--Japanese public prosecutors on Monday filed a special appeal to the Supreme Court over a high court decision to grant a retrial for a deceased man who was found guilty over a 1984 robbery-murder case.

If finalized, the decision by Osaka High Court would reopen for the first time a post-World War II criminal case for which a finalized indefinite prison term or death sentence was handed down.

On Feb. 27, the high court maintained Otsu District Court's decision in 2018 to reopen the case for Hiromu Sakahara, dismissing an immediate appeal filed by the prosecution.

In the case, a female liquor shop owner was killed and a cashbox was stolen in the town of Hino in Shiga Prefecture, western Japan, in 1984.

Sakahara confessed to the crime during investigations but maintained his innocence at trial. The Supreme Court finalized his guilty ruling, and he died of illness in 2011 at the age of 75 while serving an indefinite prison term, before his appeal for a retrial was accepted.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]