Human rights groups attacked the Supreme Court's dismissal of an 87-year-old death-row inmate's petition for a retrial over the 1961 murders of five women who drank poisoned wine in Nabari, Mie Prefecture.
The top court ruled that the poison used could have been tetraethyl pyrophosphate as determined in the final ruling that saw Masaru Okunishi convicted of killing five people, including his wife, and injuring 12 others who drank the tainted wine at a community meeting in the city.
But Japan Federation of Bar Associations President Kenji Yamagishi said in a statement Friday there was reasonable doubt that the poison was the pesticide, adding that the top court should have properly examined new evidence — that included testimony from an expert that the poison was not tetraethyl pyrophosphate — submitted by the defense team for Okunishi.