The Tokyo High Court has rejected a suit demanding it release a Nepalese man who was earlier acquitted by a lower court on murder and robbery charges, the man's lawyers said Tuesday.
Govinda Prasad Mainali, 33, was acquitted April 14 on a charge of killing a female employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co.
But Mainali has been detained since the prosecution appealed the Tokyo District Court's decision.
Prosecutors have argued that Mainali's detention is necessary while his high court trial proceeds. If he were to be released, they said, he would be deported for an earlier conviction for overstaying his visa.
Mainali's defense lawyers, however, insisted that their client's continued detention is unnecessary as he is unlikely to be found guilty of murder by the high court.
They also said prosecutors' arguments before the high court are the same as those made before the lower court.
Mainali was moved to the Tokyo Detention House from an immigration facility May 8, after the Tokyo High Court, acting on a request filed by the prosecutors, ordered that his detention continue.
Immigration authorities then suspended deportation proceedings.
The Supreme Court ruled in late June that it was proper to detain the man to prevent him from being deported, thereby allowing prosecutors to pursue their appeal.
Mainali, who arrived in Japan in February 1994 on a tourist visa, had been accused of murdering Tepco employee Yasuko Watanabe and of stealing her belongings.