After 10 days of confinement, Manalili Villanueva Rosal finally confessed to a Chiba Prefectural Police detective that she murdered her lover. She retracted her confession the next day -- and maintained her innocence throughout her trial -- but was sentenced to eight years in prison in September 1999.
The Filipino woman appealed her sentence, handed down by the Chiba District Court, to the Tokyo High Court, which held its first hearing Friday.
Rosal's case is indicative of problems within the nation's criminal justice system. Although it boasts a 99 percent conviction rate, trials are heavily dependent on confessions that are often extracted during interrogations.