Japan Top Court Grants Retrial for Ex-Life Sentenced Man after Death

Jiji Press

14:57 JST, February 25, 2026

Tokyo, Feb. 25 (Jiji Press)—Japan’s Supreme Court upheld a high court decision to grant a retrial for a deceased man who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1984 robbery-murder case in Shiga Prefecture, western Japan.

Hiromu Sakahara died of illness in 2011 at the age of 75 while serving his sentence.

This is believed to be the first time a retrial has been granted for a deceased former defendant in Japan in a postwar case where a sentence of life imprisonment or severer was finalized.