In Japan, a man who had been waiting for the execution of the death sentence for 45 years was acquitted

Iwao Hakamada with his sister in 2023

KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images

On September 26, a Japanese court acquitted 88-year-old former boxer Iwao Hakamada, who was found guilty of murdering four people in 1968. Since then, the man has been awaiting execution mostly in solitary confinement, which has affected his mental health.

In 1966, a man worked at a factory processing miso, a traditional Japanese seasoning consisting of fermented beans, writes BBC.

That year, the bodies of his employer, his wife and two teenage children were found in a house fire in Shizuoka, west of Tokyo. All members of the family were slaughtered and set on fire in their own house.

In addition, the attackers stole 200,000 yen in cash.

The law enforcement officers accused Ivao Hakamad of the crime, who at first denied his involvement in the case. The man eventually pleaded guilty, but later claimed it was a coerced confession. The Japanese claimed that he dared to do this after being beaten and interrogated for up to 12 hours a day.

In 1968, the former boxer was sentenced to death for murder and arson. This decision was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Japan in 1980.

For years, Hakamad’s lawyers argued that the DNA found on one of the pieces of evidence did not actually belong to the convict. In addition, the defenders suggested that the police could have fabricated the case materials.

In 2014, the judge admitted that those clothes really “were not the defendant’s belongings.”

“It is unfair to continue to keep the defendant in custody, since the probability of his innocence has become quite obvious,” Murayama said then.

After that, Ivao Hakamad was released from prison, where he spent most of the time in solitary confinement. The Japanese man was diagnosed with a deteriorating mental state, so he lived under the care of his 91-year-old sister Hideko.

In October 2023, the review of the case began.

In the course of the new court proceedings, how writes Reuters, the Japanese man was released from personal participation in the proceedings, as the long wait for the execution had a significant impact on his mental health.

On September 26, 2024, the court agreed with the fact that the evidence was forged by the police, and the convict was actually not guilty of the crime, informs AFP.

The Japanese man’s sister, Hideko, has been fighting for her brother for decades, so she was pleased to hear the words “not guilty” in court.

“When I heard that, I was so touched and happy that I couldn’t help but cry”she told reporters.

Iwao Hakamada’s justification commented in the international human rights organization Amnesty International. They called the court’s decision a “decisive moment for justice” and called on Japan to abolish the death penalty.

“After nearly half a century of wrongful imprisonment and another 10 years of waiting for a retrial, this verdict is an important recognition of the deep injustice he has lived with for most of his life.”the statement says.

We will remind, in the USA, after 43 years of imprisonment, a woman was found not guilty of the murder that took place in 1980, and released from prison