Japan Top Court Backs Indefinite Term for Killer of Girl


Tokyo, July 3 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Supreme Court has upheld a high court ruling for an indefinite prison term given to a man who killed a six-year-old girl in Kobe, the capital of Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, in 2014.

The top court's First Petty Bench made the decision on Monday, turning down an appeal by public prosecutors who demanded capital punishment for the man, Yasuhiro Kimino, 52. The ruling is thus set to be finalized.

In March 2017, Osaka High Court overrode the death sentence issued in March 2016 against the man in a lay judge trial at Kobe District Court, and instead gave him an indefinite prison term.

This is the fourth case in which the Supreme Court has upheld a high court ruling that overturned a death sentence handed down in a citizen judge trial at a district court.

The five justices at the First Petty Bench agreed that it cannot be said that a death penalty is unavoidable for Kimino in light of prudence and fairness, noting that the murder was not well planned and that Kimino had not committed a similar crime before.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]

Jiji Press