Iwao Hakamada: Japan acquits world's longest-serving death row prisoner

A former Japanese boxer convicted more than 50 years ago of killing his boss and family was acquitted by a Japanese court on Thursday.

Shizuoka District Court ruled that 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada was innocent, in a retrial that was granted 10 years ago.

The court's presiding judge, Koshi Kunii, said the court acknowledged multiple fabrications of evidence and that Hakamada was not the culprit, according to broadcaster NHK.

Hakamada is the fifth death row inmate granted a retrial in Japan's post-war history. All four previous cases also resulted in acquittals.

Hundreds of people queued in the morning at the court to try and secure a seat for the verdict in what has become a high-profile case that has gripped the nation.

A long battle to clear his name

In 1968, Hakamada was convicted of the murder of a company director and three of his family members two years before.

He at first denied the crime, but confessed after what he later described as a brutal police interrogation that included beatings.

He was sentenced to death but lengthy appeals and the retrial process led to the postponement of his execution.

A first appeal for a retrial was dismissed by a court 27 years after his sentencing.

The latest retrial, which was finally approved by the court in 2023 after a second appeal was filed in 2008 by his sister, Hideko Hakamada, now 91, began in October. 

Japan is the only major industrialized democracy other than the United States to retain capital punishment.

As of December, 107 prisoners were waiting for their death sentences to be carried out. The method used for execution is always hanging.