Sentenced to death in 1968, 87-year-old Japanese will be entitled to new trial

The world’s longest-serving death row inmate was granted the right to a new trial by a Japanese court on Monday, in the latest twist in a case that dates back to the 1960s.

Iwao Hakamada, 87, spent nearly five decades waiting for the executioner’s call following his 1968 conviction for a quadruple murder before new evidence led to his release seven years ago.

The Tokyo High Court ruled on Monday that “Hakamada cannot be identified as the culprit” as key evidence submitted to finalize his death sentence was unreliable, said Kiyomi Tsunagoe, a lawyer for his defense team, The CNN .

She added that the Tokyo court upheld the decision not to return Hakamada to prison as he would likely be found not guilty.

“Hakamada’s case is known worldwide, and there was always a risk that he would be sent back to prison and face the death penalty again, despite evidence pointing to his innocence,” Tsunagoe said.

Japan’s criminal justice system has a conviction rate of 99.9% and relies heavily on confessions. The country is the only major developed democracy outside the United States that imposes capital punishment.

In 1966, Hakamada was charged with theft, arson, and murder of his boss, his boss’s wife, and their two children. The family was found stabbed to death in their incinerated home in Shizuoka, central Japan.

The former professional boxer turned factory worker initially admitted to all charges before changing his argument at trial.

He was sentenced to death in a 2-1 decision by the judges, despite repeatedly claiming that the police had fabricated evidence and forced him to confess by beating and threatening him.

The only dissenting judge left the order six months later, demoralized by his inability to stop the sentence.

A pair of bloodstained black pants and his confession were the evidence against Hakamada. The alleged motive ranged from murder to bequest for robbery.

But in 2004, a DNA test revealed that the blood on the clothes did not match Hakamada or the victims’ blood types.

In 2014, the Shizuoka District Court ordered a new trial and released Hakamada pending his day in court, based on his age and fragile mental state.

But four years later, the Tokyo High Court threw out the request for a new trial, on grounds it would not previously confirm to the CNN .

The decision to grant Hakamada a new trial on Monday came after the Supreme Court in 2020 ordered the Tokyo High Court to reconsider its earlier decision not to reopen the case.

According to Tsunagoe, the court ruled on Monday that there was a strong possibility that investigators had planted five pieces of clothing allegedly worn by Hakamada during the 1966 murders in a vat of miso paste where they were found.

Tsunagoe said the defense team argued that the evidence used to finalize Hakamada’s death sentence was fabricated.

On Monday, the presiding judge supported the defense’s claims that the reddish color of the bloodstains on the clothes allegedly worn by Hakamada would have turned black when immersed in the miso vat for several months, Tsunagoe said.

Prosecutors will decide by next Monday whether to appeal the retrial to the Supreme Court.

If the defense manages to convince them not to, the retrial will be held at the Shizuoka District Court – where Hakamada was initially tried – although the timing remains uncertain, Tsunagoe said.

“If prosecutors file a new judgment after all these decades in the Supreme Court, it will show the extent to which Japanese justice is not working,” Tsunagoe said.