The Uwajima branch of the Matsuyama District Court on Friday acquitted a 51-year-old man who was kept in detention for more than a year after being wrongly accused of stealing 500,000 yen from the bank account of an acquaintance.
"There are little grounds (for the charges) in his confession and in depositions by people involved. Other evidence originally submitted by public prosecutors is also short of proving he had committed the crime," Judge Akira Saito said in handing down the acquittal.
The judge did not criticize the man's detention, however.
"It's over at last. I want to start my life anew now," the man, who asked not to be named, told the press.