A man from Ehime Prefecture who was falsely charged with theft has been released from detention more than a year after his arrest, prosectors said Wednesday.
He was released just four days before a ruling was scheduled to be handed down in his case in February and after a man who was arrested in Kochi Prefecture in January on suspicion of robbery and assault admitted the crime, the prosecutors said.
The 51-year-old man was arrested Feb. 1, 1999, on suspicion of stealing a bank book from the home of an acquaintance in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, in October 1998 and then stealing a seal for the bank book from the same house in December that year.
He was also charged for withdrawing 500,000 yen from the acquaintance's account.