In a retrial held decades after his conviction, a court on Thursday acquitted an 85-year-old man of a 1985 murder in Kumamoto Prefecture.
The Kumamoto District Court found Koki Miyata not guilty in the murder of his shogi partner Matao Okamura in Matsubase, Kumamoto Prefecture, more than 34 years ago.
"There is no evidence that shows the defendant was the culprit and the court cannot accept he committed the murder," said presiding Judge Yoshihisa Mizokuni in handing down the ruling.