Man Acquitted over 1986 Murder Seeks State Compensation

Fukui, April 28 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese man acquitted in a retrial over the murder of a junior high school girl 40 years ago demanded on Tuesday about 40 million yen in state compensation for some eight years and nine months of unjust detention. Shoshi Maekawa, 60, filed the compensation request with Fukui District Court in the city of Fukui, central Japan. He was arrested in March 1987 for allegedly murdering the student in the capital city of the namesake prefecture in March 1986. The district court found Maekawa not guilty in September 1990, and he was released. But Nagoya High Court’s Kanazawa branch in neighboring Ishikawa Prefecture overturned the not-guilty ruling and sentenced Maekawa to seven years in prison in February 1995. This ruling was finalized by the Supreme Court in November 1997, and he was imprisoned for some five years until March 2003. Maekawa was acquitted in a retrial in August 2025. The compensation amount was calculated by multiplying 12,500 yen, the maximum daily amount set under the criminal compensation law, by the total number of days he was detained. “I honestly question whether 40 million yen is a sufficient amount to compensate for the 40 years,” Maekawa told reporters. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]