Court of Japan ordered a retrial of the case of an 87-year-old man, believed to be the oldest sentenced to death worldwide. Iwao Hakamada was found guilty of murder almost 60 years ago.
Lawyers for Iwao Hakamada left the Tokyo High Court holding banners calling for a new trial, while supporters chanted: “Free Hakamada now.”
“I’ve been waiting for this day for 57 years and it’s here” said Hideko, Hakamada’s sister.
The man in question has spent more than four decades on death row after being convicted in 1968 at the last minute of a quadruple murder: of his boss and three members of his family.
Hakamada confessed to the crime after weeks of interrogation, but later recanted. Since then he has not stopped declaring his innocence.
Iwao Hakamada was a boxer
The former boxer was freed in 2014 after a court accepted there were doubts about his guilt based on DNA tests carried out on his clothing, a key element of the original prosecution, and agreed to a new trial.
However, in 2018, following an appeal by the prosecution, the Tokyo High Court questioned the validity of the DNA tests and annulled the 2014 decision, as reported by the Athens News Agency.
In late 2020 the Supreme Court of Japan overturned a decision barring Hakamada from being tried again; a new one that his sister had called a Christmas “gift”.
His relatives highlight the psychological problems Hakamada faces after four decades in a cell where he awaited execution by hanging every day.
In recent years, requests for a review of various cases in Japan have increased due to changes in the judicial system.
Japan, along with the US, is one of the last industrialized and democratic countries to impose the death penalty.
Source: News Beast
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