The Tokyo High Court decided Wednesday to question two of three defendants in a civil damages suit who were accused of murdering a 15-year-old girl in Saitama Prefecture in 1985, when they were minors.
The court is hearing a compensation suit filed by the parents of the girl. The suit was sent back to the high court in 2000 for retrial by the Supreme Court.
The testimony of the two defendants, both aged 30, will mark the first time that people have been subpoenaed as witnesses in an appellate court trial over a criminal case that they were involved in when they were minors.