The longest-serving death row inmate in the world has expressed gratitude to his supporters for helping him achieve a “complete victory,” following a Japanese court’s decision last week to overturn his long-standing murder conviction.
After years of battling for justice led by his sister, the 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada was last week declared innocent of the quadruple murder for which he had been on death row for 46 years.
“At last, I have achieved full and complete victory,” the former boxer remarked to a gathering of supporters in Shizuoka, a region located southwest of Tokyo where the ruling was announced.
“I couldn’t wait any longer” to learn of the not-guilty verdict, said a beaming Hakamada, who was wearing a green hat.
Japan and the United States are the only major industrialized democracies that still maintain capital punishment, which enjoys significant public support in Japan.
Mr. Hakamada is the fifth death row inmate to be granted a retrial in Japan’s post-war history, with all four preceding cases resulting in exonerations as well.
Decades of imprisonment—primarily in solitary confinement under the constant threat of execution—have adversely affected Mr. Hakamada’s mental health.
His lawyer and supporters have characterized him as “living in a world of fantasy.”
Having been released in 2014 while awaiting retrial, Mr. Hakamada seldom makes public appearances.
Even with the retrial verdict, his acquittal is not yet finalized, as prosecutors reportedly have until October 10 to decide whether to appeal the ruling from the Shizuoka District Court.
However, they may face significant challenges, as the court sharply criticized the prosecution’s claims, indicating that investigators had fabricated critical evidence.
The ruling asserted that Mr. Hakamada’s initial confessions—claiming he had robbed and murdered his boss, the man’s wife, and their two teenage children—were obtained through “inhumane” interrogations involving mental and physical torture, rendering them inadmissible.
Moreover, clothes stained with blood that were used to incriminate him were found to have been staged.
The court revealed that investigators had placed blood on these garments and concealed them in a tank of fermented soybean paste, where they were later “discovered.”
