A high court Tuesday rejected an appeal to reopen a 1992 murder case in which a prisoner was executed for abducting and killing two girls in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Upholding a lower court decision, the Fukuoka High Court dismissed calls to retry Michitoshi Kuma, who was executed in 2008 at age 70, saying his conviction was firmly established.
The case drew attention as it would have been Japan's first posthumous retrial of an executed convict, according to the Justice Ministry.