Japan acquits a defendant who had been on death row for decades… What is the story of Iwao Hakamada?
After more than five decades, the world’s oldest death row inmate has been acquitted, CNN reported.
A Japanese court on Thursday acquitted 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who was wrongfully sentenced to death in 1968 for killing a family, ending a marathon legal saga that brought global scrutiny to Japan’s criminal justice system and sparked calls to abolish the death penalty in the country.
Bloodstained pants and a jacket, along with an alleged forced confession, were what sent Hakamada to execution in the 1960s.
During the retrial, Hakamada’s lawyers said the new information proved his innocence, while prosecutors argued there was enough evidence to say he should be executed for the crime.
How did the story begin?
Hakamada was a professional boxer, but retired in 1961 and took a job at a soybean processing plant in Shizuoka, central Japan — a choice that blighted the rest of his life when Hakamada’s boss, his wife and their two children were found stabbed to death in their home in June.
Five years later, Hakamada, who was divorced at the time and also worked at a bar, became the police’s prime suspect.
After days of continuous interrogation, Hakamada initially confessed to the charges against him, but later changed his confession, claiming that the police forced him to confess by beating and threatening him.
He was sentenced to death by a two-to-one majority of the judges, despite his repeated assertions that the police had fabricated the evidence. The sole dissenting judge stepped down after six months, frustrated by his inability to stop the sentence.
Hakamada, who has maintained his innocence ever since, would spend more than half his life awaiting execution before new evidence led to his release a decade ago.
After DNA testing of the blood on the pants revealed that it did not match Hakamada or the victims, the Shizuoka District Court ordered a retrial in 2014. Due to his age and fragile mental state, Hakamata was released while awaiting his execution day.
The Tokyo High Court initially threw out the retrial request for unknown reasons, but in 2023 agreed to give Hakamada a second chance based on an order from Japan’s Supreme Court.
Retrials are rare in Japan, where 99 percent of cases end in conviction, according to the Justice Ministry’s website.
He lives in his own world.
Even as his supporters cheer Hakamada’s acquittal, the good news likely won’t register with the man himself.
After decades in prison, Hakamada’s mental health has deteriorated and he is “living in his own world,” said his sister Hideko, 91, who has long fought for his innocence.
Hakamada rarely speaks and shows no interest in other people, Hideko told CNN.
“Sometimes he smiles happily, but that’s when he’s delusional,” she added. “We haven’t even discussed the trial with Iwao because of his inability to perceive reality.”
But the Hakamada case was always about more than one man.
It has raised questions about Japan’s reliance on confessions to secure convictions, and some say it is one reason the country should abolish the death penalty.
“I am against the death penalty,” Hideko said. “Convicts are human beings, too.”
Justice system under scrutiny
Japan is the only Group of Seven country outside the United States that retains the death penalty, although it did not carry out any executions in 2023, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Hiroshi Ichikawa, a former prosecutor who was not involved in the Hakamada case, said Japanese prosecutors have historically encouraged confessions before seeking supporting evidence, even if it meant threatening or manipulating defendants to admit guilt.
He noted that the focus on confessions is what allows Japan to maintain such a high conviction rate, in a country where acquittals can severely damage the prosecutor’s career.
A long struggle for innocence
For 46 years, Hakamada has been held behind bars after being convicted on the basis of the stained clothing and his confession, which he and his lawyers say was given under duress.
Hakamada’s lawyer, Hideo Ogawa, told CNN that Hakamada was physically restrained and interrogated for more than 12 hours a day for 23 days, without a defense attorney.
He explained that the Japanese judicial system, especially at that time, was one that allowed investigative agencies to take advantage of their secretive nature to commit illegal or investigative crimes.
Chiara Sangiorgio, Amnesty International’s death penalty adviser, said Hakamada’s case “symbolic of many issues surrounding Japan’s criminal justice system.”
She noted that prisoners sentenced to death in Japan are usually held in solitary confinement with limited contact with the outside world.
According to CNN, executions are shrouded in secrecy with little or no warning, and families and lawyers are usually notified only after the execution is carried out.
Hakamada’s Little Pleasures During Freedom
Hakamada spent most of his life behind bars for a crime he did not commit.
Yet, despite his poor mental health, Hakamada has been able over the past decade to enjoy some of the small pleasures that come with living freely.
In February, he adopted two cats. “Iwao started to care about the cats, worry about them and take care of them, and that was a big change,” Hideko said.
Every afternoon, a group of his supporters takes him for a drive, where he “buys a lot of pastries and juice,” Hideko said.
“I hope he continues to live a long and free life,” she added.
