NARA —

A psychiatrist charged with leaking investigation records about a deadly arson case in Nara Prefecture to a freelance journalist pleaded not guilty Thursday at his trial at the Nara District Court.

Morimitsu Sakihama, 50, has been charged with unlawful disclosure of confidential information for allegedly leaking to journalist Atsuko Kusanagi depositions of a male teenager who torched his home in the prefectural town of Tawaramoto in June 2006, killing his stepmother, younger brother and sister. Sakihama’s defense counsel said that as a psychiatrist the charge of leaking investigation records did not apply to him and that he had the legitimate aim of seeking to correct a misunderstanding in society about the pervasive development disorder the teen was diagnosed with and to show that the boy had no murderous intent.

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