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.

“Years have passed since the (initial) ruling was finalized, and it is appropriate to hand down this ruling as quickly as possible.”

Miyata was initially sentenced to 13 years in prison in 1986 over the murder and was only released on parole in 1999.

He now lives in a nursing facility in Kumamoto as he suffers from dementia and is bedridden. He did not appear at the court Thursday and was told of his acquittal while at the facility.

Source: ANNnewsCH