The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday overturned a lower court ruling and fined lawyer Yoshihiro Yasuda ¥500,000 for obstructing compulsory seizures of the assets of his client by moneylenders between 1993 and 1996.
The court case has been closely watched because Yasuda, 60, is known as a prominent opponent of capital punishment who earlier led the defense for Shoko Asahara, founder of the Aum Shinrikyo cult.
He was also the chief defense lawyer for a man sentenced to death Tuesday for killing a 23-year-old woman and her 11-month-old daughter in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1999 — a controversial case that drew nationwide attention because the defendant was a minor at the time of the murders.