KOBE —
A Nigerian man who is seeking a retrial over his conviction in a 2001 robbery case has filed a damages suit with the Kobe District Court against the central and local governments, accusing authorities of suppressing evidence, his lawyer said Monday.
The 40-year-old man is demanding 100 million yen ($912,000) in damages and an apology from the state and Hyogo prefectural government for the actions of prosecutors and police. He argues evidence that could have exonerated him was suppressed.
The man has also lodged a special appeal to the Supreme Court to reopen his case. The man was released in 2009 after being convicted of robbing a post office in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, of 22.75 million yen with a male relative in June 2001, and given a six-year prison sentence.
According to the lawsuit filed on May 20, prosecutors hid the results of a DNA test performed on a sample taken from a ski mask believed to have been worn by the thief, and did not submit the results to the court. In seeking a retrial, his lawyer has presented new evidence showing that the DNA sample could not have come from the Nigerian man and thus the real culprit could be a different person.
The lawsuit further asserts that police deleted surveillance camera footage showing the post office at the time of the robbery, which also could have identified the culprit.
Both the Himeji branch of the Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office and the Hyogo prefectural police have declined to comment on the damages suit.
In March this year, the Osaka High Court sent the robbery case back to the Kobe District Court, saying deliberation by the court’s Himeji branch were insufficient. The branch had rejected the man’s appeal for a retrial.
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