Japan court rejects retrial of 1966 murder case

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Supreme Court has refused a retrial of a former boxer convicted of murder more than 40 years ago despite a petition from a former judge who said he believed all along the accused was innocent.

Iwao Hakamada, now 72, was arrested in August 1966 on suspicion of killing four people in Shizuoka, west of Tokyo and was sentenced to death by a district court two years later. The ruling was upheld by the Tokyo High Court and the Supreme Court.

On Monday, Norimichi Kumamoto, one of the three judges at the Shizuoka court who had sentenced Hakamada to death, petitioned the court for a retrial, but the plea was rejected, a Supreme Court official said.

"There was no room for having reasonable doubts," the official said.

Kumamoto said that although he had believed the former professional boxer was innocent at the time, he had failed to persuade his fellow judges.

"I had no choice but to write a death sentence," Kumamoto, 71, said in the petition, according to Kyodo news agency.

"I could not tolerate the pricks of conscience, and gave up the post as a judge the next year and attempted to die several times."

Hakamada had confessed under police questioning but had pleaded innocent in court, media reports have said.

Hakamada himself first requested a retrial in 1981 but his plea had been repeatedly turned down.

"If I could meet Mr. Hakamada, I have no words to say but could only bow to him," Kumamoto said in the petition.

"I would like to have the Supreme Court make deliberations with an open mind."

Japanese media said lawyers for Hakamada were expected to file another plea for retrial.

(Reporting by Teruaki Ueno; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)