The defense team of Govinda Prasad Mainali, a 39 year-old Nepali who is serving a life sentence at Yokohama for the murder of a 39- year-old executive in 1997, made an appeal for retrial to the Tokyo High Court last week. The defense team pointed out that the prosecution had neglected to carry out detailed study and testing of the evidence retrieved and demanded the retrial so as to clarify the real facts about the evidence. The defense lawyers (see pic) believe that since the DNA test techniques have been improved a lot since the time of the murder, the study would bring about the truth about the murderer.

A day before filing for the retrial, one of the Govinda's defense team visited Govinda at Yokohama jail and reconfirmed his determination for retrial. It is said that retrial may affect Govinda's term in jail adversely. But Govinda immediately said: "I do not wish my sentence term to be extended but more than that, I can never admit to a crime I never committed." This week, Govinda's 74 year-old mother will be coming to Japan with Govinda's wife, Radha.