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.

Bozorov Akmal, a 37-year-old Uzbek national released after over 16 years in prison after a court granted him a retrial and suspended the execution of his sentence, embraces his father at the main gate of Changwon Prison in South Gyeongsang Province on Oct. 15. He was sentenced to life in prison for the 2009 murder of a taxi driver in Changwon. (Yonhap)
Bozorov Akmal, a 37-year-old Uzbek national released after over 16 years in prison after a court granted him a retrial and suspended the execution of his sentence, embraces his father at the main gate of Changwon Prison in South Gyeongsang Province on Oct. 15. He was sentenced to life in prison for the 2009 murder of a taxi driver in Changwon. (Yonhap)

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.

Bozorov Akmal, a 37-year-old Uzbek national released after over 16 years in prison following a court decision granting a retrial and suspending his sentence, answers reporters’ questions outside Changwon Prison in South Gyeongsang Province on Oct. 15. (Yonhap)
Bozorov Akmal, a 37-year-old Uzbek national released after over 16 years in prison following a court decision granting a retrial and suspending his sentence, answers reporters’ questions outside Changwon Prison in South Gyeongsang Province on Oct. 15. (Yonhap)

On Oct. 15, the court decided to reopen Akmal's case and suspended his prison sentence, acknowledging that police 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 "heavily accepts the human rights violations during the investigation at the time," emphasizing they will carry out future proceedings based on objective evidence and legal principles. (Yonhap)