88-year-old man found not guilty of murder after serving 46 years on death row
The Japanese boxer who spent 46 years on death row, the longest of such sentence in the world, has been acquitted of his quadruple murder conviction.
CBS News reported that Shizuoka District Court overturned the decades-old murder conviction of Iwao Hakamada, 88.
"Finally I have won full and complete victory," Hakamada told a group of supporters on Sept. 29, Sunday, in Shizuoka, the region southwest of the capital Tokyo.
He's accompanied by his 91-year-old sister Hideko, who had led a long fight for justice for him.
Hakamada was detained for decades, mostly in solitary confinement, with the threat of being executed at any time.
He's the fifth death row inmate who was granted a retrial in Japan's post-war history. The four other inmates were also declared innocent.
Hakamada was released in 2014 pending the retrial, though he rarely speaks in public.
His acquittal isn't finalized yet, as prosecutors can still appeal the ruling, reportedly until Oct. 10.
Prosecutors, however, may struggle as the court delivered a sweeping rebuke of their arguments, noting that investigators fabricated key pieces of evidence.
The court said Hakamada's initial confessions of robbing and murdering his boss, his wife, and their two teenage children were obtained through "inhumane" interrogations and mental and physical torture, thus making them invalid.
The blood-stained clothes used to incriminate him were also a set-up, according to the court, with investigators putting blood on them and planting them in a tank of miso-fermented soybean paste to be discovered.
Once the verdict is finalized, Hakamada's lawyer estimated that he would be compensated to the tune of over $1.4 million (P78.4 million).
His legal team, meanwhile, is planning to file another lawsuit against the state seeking further compensation.
Amnesty International said that as of Dec. 31, 2023, 107 out of the 115 people on death row in Japan had their death sentences finalized and were at risk of execution. Those on death row, meanwhile, continued to be held in solitary confinement. It noted that the last execution in Japan was carried out on July 26, 2022.
