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...as his conviction is overturned...
The world's longest serving death row inmate was captured enjoying a fruit salad and a head massage from his sister after a Japanese court found the 88-year-old former boxer not guilty on Thursday more than half a century after his 1968 murder conviction.
Footage captured this morning shows Iwao Hakamada leaving the Shizouka District Court following his victory, while another clip shows the man enjoying a fruit salad in his home in Hamamatsu.
He was also filmed alongside his elder sister, Hikedo, who tenderly gave him a head massage
The world's longest serving death row inmate was captured enjoying a fruit salad and a head massage from his sister after a Japanese court found the 88-year-old former boxer not guilty on Thursday more than half a century after his 1968 murder conviction.
Footage captured this morning shows Iwao Hakamada leaving the Shizouka District Court following his victory, while another clip shows the man enjoying a fruit salad in his home in Hamamatsu.
He was also filmed alongside his elder sister, Hikedo, who tenderly gave him a head massage
Hakamada had spent 56 years behind bars after he was convicted of murder in the brutal 1966 killing of an executive and three of his family members, setting fire to their home in central Japan.
More than 45 years were spent on death row - making him the world's longest-serving death row inmate, according to the Amnesty International.
The Shizuoka District Court ruled that 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada was not guilty in a retrial obtained by the former boxer and his supporters a decade ago
His acquittal comes after a retrial obtained by the former boxer and his supporters a decade ago, making him the fifth death row inmate to be found not guilty in a retrial in postwar Japan, where prosecutors have a more than 99% conviction rate.
The court found that evidence was fabricated and planted by investigators and that Hakamada was not the culprit, his lawyer Hideyo Ogawa said.
After the ruling and an explanation were read out, his 91-year-old sister walked out of the courthouse with a big smile, as she was welcomed by cheers and two big bouquets of flowers to celebrate the acquittal of her brother after the 58-year legal battle.
'Thank you, everyone, we won an acquittal,' she told a televised news conference. 'When I heard the main sentence, it sounded almost divine. I was so touched and could not stop crying with joy.'
He was sentenced to death in 1968, but was not executed due to the lengthy appeal and retrial process in Japan's notoriously slow-paced criminal justice system.
The lawyer also said the defense team is considering filing a suit against the government, in part to learn more about the troubled investigation. If prosecutors do not appeal and his acquittal is finalized, Hakamada would be entitled to seek compensation.
It took 27 years for the top court to deny his first appeal for retrial. His second appeal for a retrial was filed in 2008 by his sister.
That request was granted in 2014, when a court ruled there was evidence suggesting he was wrongly accused. He was not cleared of the conviction, but he was released from prison and allowed to await retrial at home because his poor health and age made him a low risk for escape.
ut the case continued to bounce among several courts, until one finally ruled in his favor in 2023, paving the way for the latest retrial that began in October.
Following his arrest, Hakamada initially denied the accusations, but then confessed. He later said his confession was forced during a violent interrogation by police.
'I have nothing to do with the case - I am innocent,' he wrote in his letter to his mother while on trial in 1967.
On Thursday, the court concluded that five pieces of bloodstained clothing that investigators claimed to have found hidden in a tank of fermented soybean paste, or miso, a year after Hakamada's arrest must have been put there long after the arrest.
The court cited scientific experiments that showed the bloodstains should not have been visible on clothing soaked in miso for a year. The ruling concluded that investigators, who had said Hakamada wore the clothes during the crime, had applied the bloodstains themselves and planted the clothing.
According to defense lawyers and earlier court rulings, the blood samples did not match Hakamada's DNA, and trousers that prosecutors submitted as evidence were too small for him.
Thursday's ruling also blamed the prosecutors for forcing Hakamada into a false confession because of an 'inhumane' interrogation.
Supporters say Hakamada's nearly half-century detention took a toll on his mental health. Most of his 48 years behind bars was spent in solitary confinement.
The first two months after Hakamada's release, he kept pacing inside the apartment, without even trying to go outside, his sister said.
Death row inmate tucks into fruit salad to celebrate acquittal
What a terrible waste of a life.. can you imagine this happening to you ?
The world's longest serving death row inmate was captured enjoying a fruit salad and a head massage from his sister after a Japanese court found the 88-year-old former boxer not guilty on Thursday more than half a century after his 1968 murder conviction.
Footage captured this morning shows Iwao Hakamada leaving the Shizouka District Court following his victory, while another clip shows the man enjoying a fruit salad in his home in Hamamatsu.
He was also filmed alongside his elder sister, Hikedo, who tenderly gave him a head massage
The world's longest serving death row inmate was captured enjoying a fruit salad and a head massage from his sister after a Japanese court found the 88-year-old former boxer not guilty on Thursday more than half a century after his 1968 murder conviction.
Footage captured this morning shows Iwao Hakamada leaving the Shizouka District Court following his victory, while another clip shows the man enjoying a fruit salad in his home in Hamamatsu.
He was also filmed alongside his elder sister, Hikedo, who tenderly gave him a head massage
More than 45 years were spent on death row - making him the world's longest-serving death row inmate, according to the Amnesty International.
The Shizuoka District Court ruled that 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada was not guilty in a retrial obtained by the former boxer and his supporters a decade ago
His acquittal comes after a retrial obtained by the former boxer and his supporters a decade ago, making him the fifth death row inmate to be found not guilty in a retrial in postwar Japan, where prosecutors have a more than 99% conviction rate.
The court found that evidence was fabricated and planted by investigators and that Hakamada was not the culprit, his lawyer Hideyo Ogawa said.
After the ruling and an explanation were read out, his 91-year-old sister walked out of the courthouse with a big smile, as she was welcomed by cheers and two big bouquets of flowers to celebrate the acquittal of her brother after the 58-year legal battle.
'Thank you, everyone, we won an acquittal,' she told a televised news conference. 'When I heard the main sentence, it sounded almost divine. I was so touched and could not stop crying with joy.'
He was sentenced to death in 1968, but was not executed due to the lengthy appeal and retrial process in Japan's notoriously slow-paced criminal justice system.
The lawyer also said the defense team is considering filing a suit against the government, in part to learn more about the troubled investigation. If prosecutors do not appeal and his acquittal is finalized, Hakamada would be entitled to seek compensation.
It took 27 years for the top court to deny his first appeal for retrial. His second appeal for a retrial was filed in 2008 by his sister.
That request was granted in 2014, when a court ruled there was evidence suggesting he was wrongly accused. He was not cleared of the conviction, but he was released from prison and allowed to await retrial at home because his poor health and age made him a low risk for escape.
ut the case continued to bounce among several courts, until one finally ruled in his favor in 2023, paving the way for the latest retrial that began in October.
Following his arrest, Hakamada initially denied the accusations, but then confessed. He later said his confession was forced during a violent interrogation by police.
'I have nothing to do with the case - I am innocent,' he wrote in his letter to his mother while on trial in 1967.
On Thursday, the court concluded that five pieces of bloodstained clothing that investigators claimed to have found hidden in a tank of fermented soybean paste, or miso, a year after Hakamada's arrest must have been put there long after the arrest.
The court cited scientific experiments that showed the bloodstains should not have been visible on clothing soaked in miso for a year. The ruling concluded that investigators, who had said Hakamada wore the clothes during the crime, had applied the bloodstains themselves and planted the clothing.
According to defense lawyers and earlier court rulings, the blood samples did not match Hakamada's DNA, and trousers that prosecutors submitted as evidence were too small for him.
Thursday's ruling also blamed the prosecutors for forcing Hakamada into a false confession because of an 'inhumane' interrogation.
Supporters say Hakamada's nearly half-century detention took a toll on his mental health. Most of his 48 years behind bars was spent in solitary confinement.
The first two months after Hakamada's release, he kept pacing inside the apartment, without even trying to go outside, his sister said.
Death row inmate tucks into fruit salad to celebrate acquittal
What a terrible waste of a life.. can you imagine this happening to you ?
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