Japan frees world’s longest-serving death row inmate
Print Edition
THE world’s longest-serving death row inmate was freed yesterday by a Japanese court that found investigators had likely fabricated evidence in the murder case that put the former pro boxer behind bars for nearly half a century.
The Shizuoka District Court suspended the death sentence and ordered a retrial for 78-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been convicted in the 1966 murder of a family and was sentenced to death in 1968. More than 45 of his 48 years in prison have been on death row, making Hakamada the longest-serving such inmate, according to Guinness World Records.
Hours later, Hakamada walked out of the Tokyo Detention Center, escorted by his sister as media and supporters waited outside. He briefly looked at the crowd and got inside a car without speaking.
Hakamada was not executed because of a lengthy appeals process. It took 27 years for the Supreme Court to deny his first appeal for a retrial. He filed a second appeal in 2008, and the court finally ruled in his favor yesterday.
“It is unbearably unjust to prolong detention of the defendant any further,” said presiding judge Hiroaki Murayama in a ruling statement. “The possibility of his innocence has become clear to a respectable degree.”
Hakamada was convicted of killing a company manager and his family and setting fire to their central Japan home, where he was a live-in staff.
The court said yesterday that DNA analysis obtained by Hakamada’s lawyers suggested investigators had fabricated evidence. Blood stains detected on five pieces of clothing, which investigators said were worn by the culprit during the crime, did not match the DNA of Hakamada.
Shizuoka District deputy chief prosecutor Takashi Nishitani said the ruling was unexpected and that prosecutors would discuss whether to appeal to a higher court.
The court’s order for a retrial makes Hakamada only the sixth death row inmate to get a retrial in Japan’s history of postwar criminal justice. Four were acquitted in their retrials, while the fifth inmate’s case is still pending.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
