The Tokyo High Court on Friday rejected a retrial plea lodged by a former professional boxer who has been on death row for 36 years over the 1966 murder of a family of four in Shizuoka Prefecture.

The decision was conveyed in the morning to the defense counsel of Iwao Hakamada, 68, who has been seeking a retrial for the past 23 years.

While Hakamada confessed to the crime during an initial police investigation, he later pleaded not guilty in court.