JAPAN: COURT REJECTS RETRIAL APPEAL BY EX-POLICE OFFICER INVOLVED IN MURDER

a Japanese district court rejected an appeal for retrial filed by a former police officer whose death penalty was finalised over the kidnapping and murder of two people between 1986 and 1989, sources close to the matter said. Shigeo Okazaki, a 55-year-old former Iwate prefectural police officer, appealed the decision. The Fukushima District Court said it cannot explain the reason of the rejection ''because the procedure is closed to the public.'' The Fukushima District Court sentenced Okazaki to death in 1995 and the Sendai High Court upheld the ruling.