Overview
- Presiding Judge Mikihito Nakata notified the defense that the court will issue its decision at 2 p.m. on January 28.
- The case centers on a man treated as a Hansen’s disease patient who was convicted in a special court inside an isolation facility and executed in 1962.
- The man’s family filed the fourth retrial petition in April 2021.
- Defense lawyers challenge the alleged murder weapon and the credibility of statements, while prosecutors have submitted an opinion asserting there are no grounds for retrial.
- A 2020 Kumamoto District Court ruling in a state compensation case found the special-court proceedings unconstitutional, informing the current petition.