Iwao Hakamada has fought his death sentence for the past 55 years, alleging that investigators forced him to confess to killing his former boss and his family.
Iwao Hakamada is now 87 years old and the longest in the world on death row. He was sentenced to death in 1968 for the murder of his boss, his wife, and their two children in 1966. The man was eligible for a retrial after 55 years. It is reported by BBC News.
The former professional boxer confessed to the crime after 20 days of interrogation, during which he said he was beaten. He later retracted his confession in court.
During the retrial, the judges will decide whether the DNA from the bloodstains found on the clothing allegedly worn by the killer matches that of Iwao Hakamada.
The man was arrested and charged with the robbery and murder of his employer and his family. At the time, he was working at a soybean processing plant in Shizuoka, west of Tokyo. The victims were found stabbed to death after the fire.
The man confessed to the crime after 20 days of interrogation, during which, according to him, he was beaten
Photo: AFP
In 2014, Khakamada was released from prison and granted permission to have the case retried by the district court, which found evidence could have been planted by investigators. This decision was then overturned by Tokyo’s highest court.
However, after an appeal, the Supreme Court judges ordered the high court to reconsider the decision, resulting in the man being entitled to a retrial.
“I have been waiting for this day for 57 years, and now it has finally come. Finally, a weight has been lifted from my shoulders,” said Hakamada’s sister, 90-year-old Hideko, who has campaigned for her brother for many years.
Hideko, 90, campaigned for her brother for years
Photo: AFP
The prisoner’s family says his mental health has deteriorated after decades in prison.
The publication notes that Japan is the only major industrial democracy, except for the United States, where the death penalty is still applied.
Earlier Focus wrote that the police arrested a naked “time traveler”. Jason Smith is currently in the Palm Beach County Jail in Florida. A man was arrested for walking naked down a city street and scaring away tourists. He later stated that he came from “another Earth”.
It was also reported that a Chinese man robbed a gas station, and then hid in a cave from the police for 14 years. Liu Mouf, along with two accomplices, robbed a gas station, but there was only $23 in the cash register that day. The police soon detained the accomplices and the Chinese decided to hide safely in order to avoid the same fate.
