A man thought to be the longest-serving death row inmate in the world has been acquitted by a Japanese court at the age of 88.
Per the BBC, the Shizuoka District Court announced its verdict regarding Iwao Hakamada today. This decision comes 56 years after he was convicted in 1968 for the murder of a family of four.
Reportedly, the court asserted that “key evidence” was “fabricated by investigators” during Hakamada’s original trial. The outlet noted that Hakamada has “consistently maintained his innocence since his death sentence was finalized in 1980.”
Hakamada’s retrial commenced in October 2023, featuring a total of 15 hearings. He faced allegations of murdering a senior manager at the miso factory where he was employed in 1966, along with the manager’s wife and two children. The family was discovered dead in their home. They had been stabbed before the property was subsequently set ablaze, the outlet reported.
Hakamada was also reportedly accused of stealing 200,000 Japanese Yen, which is now nearly $1,400 USD in cash.
Judge Koshi Kunii suggested that investigative authorities may have tampered with evidence by smearing blood on Hakamada’s clothing. He also questioned whether red stains found on items in a miso tank were blood. The Judge noted that they would not maintain a red hue after being buried in miso paste for over a year.
The BBC reported that Hakamada’s lawyers have consistently maintained that the DNA evidence found on clothing in the miso tank, discovered a year after his arrest, does not match his own.
The Death Row Inmate’s Sister Advocated for Her Brother’s Freedom
Hakamada’s 91-year-old sister, Hideko, has tirelessly advocated for her brother’s freedom over the years.
“On behalf of my brother, I plead not guilty,” she said when the retrial started, per Japanese outlet Asahi Shimbun. According to the outlet, Hakamada had been residing with his sister in Shizuoka Prefecture since 2014. This followed his release while awaiting a retrial.
The outlet reported that Hakamada, a former professional boxer, was absent from the hearings. This was due to a mental illness that he had developed while incarcerated.
Despite insisting on his innocence for years, he “confessed” to crimes after nearly three weeks of harsh police interrogations following his 1966 arrest, according to the Asahi Shimbun. However, he later retracted that confession when the trial began.
Hakamada’s acquittal marks the fifth instance in postwar Japan—and the first in 35 years—where a death row defendant has been exonerated. Since 2000, Japan has executed 98 death row inmates.