acquitted after 56 years on death row –

Expected and sensational verdict in Japan where an inmate was acquitted after 56 years on death row. This was announced by the Shizuoka Court at the end of the review process. Iwao Hakamada, an 88-year-old Japanese man who spent 56 years in prison, was accused of killing his boss and three members of his family in 1966. He was sentenced to death two years later.

Minutes after the verdict in the review trial of this extraordinary court case, Iwao Hakamada was filmed by Japanese media leaving his home. Physically and mentally weakened by nearly fifty years awaiting execution, the world’s longest-serving death row inmate did not attend the hearing in nearby Shizuoka where he lives. Dressed in a hat and sleeveless vest over a light shirt, Hakamada took a few steps, supported by relatives. According to local media, they ensured that he would not watch television at the time of the sentencing. The judge’s conclusions seriously called into question the investigation. «The court established that three pieces of evidence had been fabricated which suggested that the accused was the perpetrator of the crime. Excluding these elements, the other evidence against him is not sufficient to establish that he is the perpetrator of the crimes, the judge clarified during the hearing. He also described the interrogation method as “inhumane” because it aimed to inflict “physical and mental pain” and to “force him to make statements”.

At the time of the facts, Hakamada had first confessed to being the perpetrator of these murders before recanting, refuting the methods of interrogation. However, his death sentence was upheld in 1980 by the Japanese Supreme Court. In 2014, a court admitted doubts about his guilt after tests showed that DNA found on the bloody clothes did not match his. The judge confirmed this today, explaining that “the investigators altered the clothes by putting blood on them”. Hakamada was later released, but the path to obtaining this review process was particularly long and tortuous. On appeal by the prosecution, in 2018 the Tokyo High Court questioned the reliability of the DNA tests and annulled the 2014 decision, without sending the accused back to prison. In 2020, a new twist occurred: the Supreme Court overturned the decision preventing a new trial against Hakamada. And so it is the verdict of this review process that Hakamada, his relatives, including his 91-year-old sister Hideko, and his supporters have been anxiously awaiting. Death row inmates in Japan are often warned at the last moment that they will be hanged a few hours later, hanging being the only method of death penalty accepted in the archipelago.