The Sendai High Court rejected a former death-row inmate's...

The Sendai High Court rejected a former death-row inmate's demand that the state and Miyagi Prefecture pay a total of 143 million yen in compensation for falsely charging him of murdering a family of four in 1955. Presiding Judge Keiji Kobayashi said he turned down the demand filed by Yukio Saito, 69, because the state and prefecture should not be held responsible for actions, which were "eventually found to be mistaken." Saito was sentenced to death when his guilt was established in 1960 with a Supreme Court ruling. However, he was found not guilty during a retrial at the Sendai District Court in 1984. The plaintiffs claimed that that prosecutors had intentionally concealed many items of evidence that would have proved his innocence. They also said that the courts failed to approve Saito's request for summoning witnesses in connection with the examination of a critical piece of evidence that led to his conviction.