The world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been given a new trial in Japan, 55 years after being convicted of murder.
Tokyo’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the retrial of 87-year-old former boxer Iwao Hakamada, nearly six decades after he was first convicted in 1968 after confessing to the murder of his boss and their family. He later said that he confessed under duress.
Lawyers for Hakamada left the court after a brief hearing, unfurling banners reading “Retrial” as supporters chanted “Free Hakamada now.”
“I waited 57 years for this day and it came,” said Hideko, Hakamada’s sister, who worked tirelessly for her brother.
“Finally a weight has been lifted from my shoulders,” said the 90-year-old.
Tokyo’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the retrial for 87-year-old former boxer Iwao Hakamada (pictured in a wheelchair, center, today), nearly six decades after he was first convicted
Iwao Hakamada, a former boxer, is seen as a young man in this undated photo. He was convicted in 1968 of robbing and murdering his boss, the man’s wife, and their two teenage children. Since then, however, evidence has come to light that casts doubt on the conviction
Hakamada spent nearly five decades on death row and was certified the world’s longest-serving death row inmate by Guinness World Records in 2014, before a lower court ordered a new trial and released him while his case continued.
Hakamada was born on March 10, 1936. He was sentenced to death in 1968 for robbing and murdering his boss, the man’s wife, and their two teenage children.
He initially denied the allegations, but later confessed after what he later claimed was a brutal police interrogation, which included assault.
His attempts to retract the confession were unsuccessful and his sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1980.
After a protracted battle, a district court in the central city of Shizuoka granted a new trial in 2014, saying finding investigators could have planted evidence.
But the Tokyo Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s ruling four years later, and the case was referred to the Supreme Court on appeal.
There, judges ruled in 2020 that the Tokyo Supreme Court should reconsider its decision.
A key piece of evidence used to convict him was a set of blood-stained clothing that emerged more than a year after the crime.
Supporters say the clothes didn’t fit him and the bloodstains were too vivid given the elapsed time.
DNA tests found no connection between Hakamada, the clothing and the blood, but the Supreme Court rejected the testing methods.
National broadcaster NHK said the presiding judge had doubts about the credibility of the clothes as evidence.
“There is no evidence other than the clothing that could determine that Hakamada was the perpetrator, so it is clear that there are reasonable doubts,” NHK president Fumio Daizen was quoted as saying.
Japan is the only major industrialized democracy other than the United States to maintain the death penalty, always carried out by hanging.
The death penalty still enjoys broad public support and is rarely discussed.
Supporters say nearly 50 years of detention, mostly in solitary confinement with the ever-present threat of execution, took a heavy toll on Hakamada’s mental health.
He told AFP in 2018 that he felt like he was “fighting a fight every day.”
Death sentences in Japan can be carried out within hours’ notice, and he is said to have spent much of his time in solitary confinement, not knowing which day would be his last.
Hideko Hakamada (front left) and Hideyo Ogawa (second right), a lawyer for Iwao Hakamada, share a smile before the Tokyo Supreme Court on March 13 after the court ordered a new trial for Hakamada – the world’s longest-serving death row inmate. Hakamada’s sister Hideko, who is 90, has campaigned tirelessly on behalf of her brother
Hakamada (seen on the left in 2018 and on the right in 2014) spent nearly five decades on death row and was certified as the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, before a lower court ordered a new trial and released him while his case was underway
Rights organization Amnesty International hailed Monday’s verdict as a “long-awaited opportunity to bring justice.”
“Hakamada’s conviction was based on a coerced ‘confession’ and there are serious doubts about the other evidence used against him,” said Hideaki Nakagawa, director of Amnesty International Japan.
Prosecutors “should not appeal today’s ruling and extend the uncertainty Hakamada has been in since his ‘temporary release’ nine years ago,” he added.
“They should allow this new trial as long as Hakamada can still participate in the proceedings.”