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Gang Leader Wins Appeal, Death Penalty Quashed

FUKUOKA, Mar 13 (News On Japan) - Leader of the yakuza group Kudo-kai, Satoru Nomura (77), had his death sentence overturned by the Fukuoka High Court on Tuesday, instead receiving life imprisonment.

The court acquitted Nomura of one of the four civilian attacks he was found guilty, which resulted in the death penalty, and sentenced him to life behind bars.

Nomura was charged with murder and other crimes in four civilian attack cases and was sentenced to death in the first instance. Nomura's side had appealed the sentence.

In the appeal trial, Nomura continued to claim innocence, but in the verdict on March 12, the Fukuoka High Court pointed out that the first-instance judgment's conclusion of conspiracy in the 1998 murder of a former fishing cooperative chairman "cannot be acknowledged in light of the rules of logic and experience."

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