The world’s longest-serving death row prisoner was acquitted by a Japanese court on Thursday, more than half a century after his 1968 murder conviction.
The Shizuoka District Court ruled that 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada was not guilty in a retrial obtained by the former boxer and his supporters a decade ago.
‘The court finds the defendant innocent,’ judge Koshi Kunii said.
Hakamada’s health is delicate and he was not present in court, but his 91-year-old sister Hideko, who often speaks for him, bowed deeply to Kunii several times.
Until he was freed in 2014 pending retrial, Hakamada had been on death row for 46 years after being convicted of killing his boss, the man’s wife and their two teenage children.
But over the years, questions arose over fabricated evidence and coerced confessions, sparking scrutiny of Japan’s justice system, which critics say holds suspects ‘hostage’.
Hundreds of people had queued in the morning at the Shizuoka District Court, trying to secure a seat for the verdict in the murder saga that has gripped the nation.
‘For so long, we have fought a battle that has felt endless,’ Hideko had told reporters in July.
‘But this time, I believe it will be settled.’
Japan is the only major industrialised democracy other than the United States to retain capital punishment, a policy that has broad public support.
Hakamada is the fifth death row inmate granted a retrial in Japan’s post-war history. All four previous cases also resulted in exoneration.
After decades of detention, mostly in solitary confinement, Hakamada sometimes seems like he ‘lives in a world of fantasy’, according to his lead lawyer Hideyo Ogawa.
Speaking to AFP in 2018, Hakamada underlined his ongoing battle to obtain an acquittal, saying he felt he was ‘fighting a bout every day’.
‘Once you think you can’t win, there is no path to victory,’ he said.
Outside the court, Hakamada’s supporters held flags and banners calling for a not-guilty verdict.