Justice Minister Makoto Taki on Friday apologized to Nepal's Govinda Prasad Mainaliwho, who was acquitted this week over a high-profile murder case that saw him jailed for 15 years in Yokohama, but he failed to acknowledge any flaws in the police investigation.
"I deeply apologize for (Mainali's) long detention" in Japan, Taki said at a news conference. While indicating he had uncovered nothing wrong with the way the original investigation was conducted, Taki still noted the police "need to learn big lessons from this incident."
Mainali, 46, received a life sentence after being found guilty of the 1997 slaying in Tokyo of a Tokyo Electric Power Co. female employee who moonlighted as a prostitute. He was fully exonerated Wednesday by the Tokyo High Court, based on the results of recently carried out DNA tests on evidence long held by prosecutors that indicated another man killed the victim.