A Japanese activist who was suspected of murdering a police officer 45 years ago has been arrested and charged with the crime on Wednesday.

Masaaki Osaka, 67, was a high-ranking member of the radical Japan Revolutionary Communist League, according to local reports. Osaka is suspected of killing police officer Tsuneo Nakamura in Tokyo on November 14, 1971. The activist was involved in a violent protest with other protesters and students against the ratification of a Japan-US treaty when Nakamura was murdered.

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Osaka disappeared after the incident. He was able to stay hidden for more than four decades with the help of sympathetic associates. Osaka was originally arrested in May in Hiroshima after local police conducted a raid on a building used by another radical group. Osaka refused to give his name to police but his DNA confirmed his identity.

Osaka's time on the run was the longest for any of the major crime suspects listed as wanted by the National Police Agency.

kbd/rc (AFP, Japan Times)