A Russian man facing retrial in a 1997 handgun possession case should be acquitted, prosecutors said Thursday, putting him on course to clear his name 18 years after his sentence was finalized.

Former seaman Andrei Novosyolov, 47, was arrested in November 1997 in a sting operation at Otaru port in Hokkaido. He spent two years in prison but was convicted based on evidence collected through an operation that was likely illegal.

Novosyolov's sentence for breaking the Firearm and Sword Control Law was finalized in August 1998. Since then he has been seeking a retrial on the grounds that he was the victim of an illegal police operation.