SHIZUOKA, Japan: A Japanese court acquitted an 88-year-old former professional boxer on Thursday. This occurred in a high-profile retrial decades after he was sentenced to death over a 1966 quadruple murder. Investigators had fabricated evidence.
Iwao Hakamata spent nearly half a century on death row. New evidence led to his release from incarceration in 2014. This led to his recognition that year as the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner.
Hakamata’s case marks the fifth time in postwar Japan for retrials that result in acquittals. This occurs after the death penalty was given. The four previous rulings were finalized without an appeal by prosecutors.
The focus now shifts to whether prosecutors, who again demanded the death penalty in the retrial, will appeal Thursday’s ruling. The defence team has urged prosecutors not to challenge an acquittal.
In the ruling, the Shizuoka District Court said “there were three instances of fabrication of evidence.” These instances included five pieces of clothing that Hakamata was alleged to have worn during the incident. The court also mentioned his confession, which it said was forced. The clothing evidence played a key role in his conviction.
The clothing items were found in a miso tank near the site of the murders 14 months later. The court backed the defence’s claim. They argued that the reddish colour could not have been bloodstains from the time of the incident. Bloodstains on clothing would not remain red when immersed in miso for more than a year.
Prosecutors argued that the clothing were worn by Hakamata during the incident. However, Presiding Judge Koshi Kunii said investigators put the bloodstains on the clothing. They hid them at a time close to their discovery.
The ruling pointed out that it is presumable investigators fabricated the key evidence “to ensure his conviction.” Hakamata pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial. However, he had confessed to the killings during his questioning.
Regarding his statements of confession, the judge said they were “effectively fabricated.” They were “forced by inflicting physical and mental pain.” The judge called his interrogation “inhumane.”
“Over the years, different conclusions and opinions have been presented by each court,” Kunii said in concluding the ruling. “He cannot be identified as the culprit.” This relies on the cardinal rule in criminal trials. This rule gives a defendant the benefit of the doubt, he said.
Hakamata’s mental state worsened due to his long incarceration. Signs of psychological strain began manifesting around 1980. This was when his death sentence was finalized. His 91-year-old sister had appeared in court hearings on behalf of her brother since the retrial began last October.
“We’ve won an acquittal,” Hideko told their supporters in front of the district court. “Thank you for all your support over the years.”
Kunii handed down the ruling. Afterward, Kunii apologised to Hideko on behalf of the court. He said, “we really feel sorry that the trial took so much time.”
The ruling came after the Tokyo High Court ordered a retrial in March last year. The court said there was a strong possibility that investigators had planted the five pieces of clothing.
The high court in 2018 had initially decided not to reopen the case. However, it reversed course after the Supreme Court in 2020 ordered it to reexamine its ruling.
“The ruling was enough for prosecutors to give up appealing,” Hakamata’s lead lawyer Hideyo Ogawa said.
Kenshi Konagamitsu, deputy chief prosecutor at the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutors Office, said, “We will closely examine the ruling. We will deal with it appropriately.”
It took more than nine years to reopen the case. The Shizuoka District Court granted him a retrial in 2014. However, prosecutors filed an objection against the decision.
Hakamata first appealed for a retrial in 1981. His retrial finally started last year after many decades. This delay has led legal experts to call for revising the retrial system. This system sets a high hurdle for the convicted to reopen a case.
Some are also hoping that the debate over abolishing the death penalty will gain momentum in Japan. Hakamata still suffers from post-incarceration syndrome. This condition is worsened by decades of not knowing when he might be executed. He also had severely limited contact with anyone outside his cell.
On Thursday, Hakamata was exempted from attending court proceedings. He spent his time as usual in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, where he lives. He went out for a routine walk, visiting a temple and eating at a noodle restaurant.
The former boxer worked as a live-in employee at a miso maker. He was arrested in 1966 for allegedly killing the firm’s senior managing director, his wife, and two of their children. They were found dead from stab wounds at their house in Shizuoka prefecture, which had been burned down.
Indicted for murder, robbery and arson, his death sentence was finalized. The court based this on a ruling. Blood marks on the five clothing items found in the miso tank matched the blood types of the victims. They also matched Hakamata’s blood type.
