Uzbek national-retrial

CHANGWON, South Korea, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- A court will open a retrial next week for an Uzbek national who was sentenced to life in prison 16 years ago for killing and robbing a taxi driver in 2009, legal sources said Monday.

According to the sources, the first hearing of the retrial for Bozorov Akmal, 37, will begin at 11 a.m. on Nov. 12 at the Changwon District Court in Changwon, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The Supreme Court finalized Akmal's life imprisonment in 2010 on charges of robbing and killing a 50-something taxi driver in Changwon in March 2009. After his first request for a retrial was rejected in 2015, he filed a second petition in January last year through Park Jun-young, a defense attorney known for handling retrial cases.

Park pointed out numerous flaws in the original investigation, including forensic opinions on the victim's neck wounds, taxi routes, records from the National Forensic Service, phone logs and testimony regarding the weapon. He also raised allegations of physical assault and coercion by investigators.

On Oct. 15, the Changwon District Court decided to reopen Akmal's case and suspend his prison sentence, acknowledging that police had lied to Akmal by falsely claiming his DNA was found at the crime scene and that the victim was still alive in order to extract a confession. The court also said his right to an interpreter had been violated.

Following the court's decision, the Changwon District Prosecutors Office said it acknowledges the human rights violations during the 2009 investigation and that it will carry out future proceedings based on objective evidence and legal principles.

The prosecution added it will not file an immediate appeal, a legal challenge that, if accepted, can instantly block an interim decision, such as the suspension of the life imprisonment sentence by the court in this case.

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