In a rare move, Justice Minister Keiko Chiba enforced a new law Tuesday abolishing the statute of limitations for murder on the same day the bill passed the Diet so an unsolved 1995 murder case wouldn't expire at midnight.
The bill for amending the code of criminal procedure was enacted in a Lower House plenary session in the afternoon.
On April 28, 1995, farmer Haruhiko Sunami, 70, and his wife, Midori, 66, were found decapitated inside their burned-down home in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. A kitchen knife was found in the farmer's stomach.