The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday exonerated Govinda Prasad Mainali, 46, of the 1997 robbery-murder of a 39-year-old Tokyo woman for which he had served 15 years of a life sentence before being freed and deported home to Nepal in June.
Mainali's acquittal was immediately finalized as prosecutors, who had sat on evidence from the start that indicated another man had committed the slaying, renounced their right to make a final appeal.
"Today's decision should have been handed down on Dec. 22, 2000, in the same courtroom. But it took 15 years and five months to confirm Mr. Mainali's innocence as well as the accuracy of the district court ruling. It has taken too long," Mainali's defense team said after the high court ruling.