Public prosecutors said on Monday they will not object to the retrial of a 59-year-old man who served a prison sentence for the 1986 murder of a junior high school student in central Japan.

The Nagoya High Public Prosecutors' Office's decision made it all but certain that Shoshi Maekawa will face a fresh trial over the killing of a 15-year-old girl in the city of Fukui. He is expected to be found not guilty.

Last week, the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court accepted a second retrial plea Maekawa filed in 2022. The spelling of Maekawa's name has been changed according to his preference.