Arab News Japan

TOKYO: A dozen protesters gathered outside the Tokyo District Court on Thursday to demand the release of radical activist Masaki Osaka, who was arrested and accused of murdering a police officer during a demonstration against US military bases on Nov. 14, 1971.

 Osaka was a fugitive for 46 years before being arrested on June. 18, 2017, in Hiroshima.

His supporters outside the district court say the evidence of his involvement in the murder, which took place in Tokyo, has disappeared from the prosecution file.

According to one of his supporters, Osaka has suffered from nasal polyps while in detention in Tokyo but has not been treated for his illness. This, his supporters say, is tantamount to torture.

Almost 50 years after the crime and following the death of Fumiaki Hoshin last year, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the same crime without any clear evidence of his involvement in the murder, his supporters are demanding Osaka’s immediate release.