The world’s longest-serving death row inmate may be released

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Nearly 60 years after his conviction in Japan, the world’s longest-serving death row inmate could be released: the chairman of the Tokyo Supreme Court expressed serious doubts about previous evidence and ordered the resumption of the trial of Iwao Hakamada (87) on Monday. As Hakamada’s lawyers left the courtroom, they unfurled banners reading “Retrial” and supporters chanted, “Now release Hakamada.”

“Since there is no evidence other than clothing that could identify Hakamada as the perpetrator, it is clear that there are reasonable doubts,” state television broadcaster NHK quoted Judge Fumio Daizen as presiding judge Monday.

Sentenced to death 55 years ago

Hakamada was sentenced to death in 1968 for the murder of his boss and his family. The former boxer made a confession after weeks of police interrogation, but later retracted it. He testified that he had been coerced into a confession during the brutal interrogations. He also stated that the evidence was faked. Nevertheless, the death sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1980.

Bloodstained clothing, which turned up more than a year after the crime, was the main evidence for Hakamada’s conviction. However, DNA testing found no connection between Hakamada, the clothing, and the blood. But the court rejected the testing methods at the time.

Then, in 2014, a district court surprisingly ordered Hakamada to start a new trial. He was released pending retrial of the trial. Four years later, the Supreme Court in Tokyo overturned the verdict at the prosecution’s request.

Sister is relieved

Hakamada’s supporters then turned against Japan’s Supreme Court, allowing the death row inmate to remain free. There, judges ruled in 2020 that the Tokyo Supreme Court should reconsider its decision.

“I’ve waited 57 years for this day, now it’s here,” Hakamada’s sister Hideko, 90, said Monday. “Finally a weight has been lifted from my shoulders,” said the 90-year-old, who had worked tirelessly for her brother.

The human rights organization Amnesty International also hailed the verdict as a “long-awaited opportunity to create justice”. Hideaki Nakagawa, director of Amnesty Japan, has urged prosecutors not to appeal again, extending the nine-year uncertainty since Hakamada’s ‘temporary release’.

Hakamada is considered the longest inmate on death row in the world. The nearly five decades on death row, mostly spent in solitary confinement, had a serious psychological impact on him. In an AFP interview, the former boxer said he felt like he had to take on a new fight every day. Besides the United States, Japan is the only major democratic industrial country where death sentences are still carried out. (AFP)

Source: Blick