A Japanese court acquitted on Thursday Iwao HakamadaWhat happened 47 years in prison and is considered the prisoner who has spent the longest time on death row in the world, according to the verdict of the new murder trial to which he was subjected after the first one was annulled.
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Hakamada, 88, was sentenced to death in 1968 for the murder of a family and remained in prison until 2014. when the courts overturned the sentence due to doubts about the veracity of the evidence and ordered a new trial, something very unusual in the Asian country.
The new sentence, announced by Judge Koshi Kunii of the Shizuoka Court (southwest of Tokyo), recognizes that there was “falsification of evidence” for which Hakamada was incriminated by the prosecution and the authorities in charge of investigating the case.
‘Inhuman’ interrogations and fabricated evidence
The ruling, reported by state broadcaster NHK, alludes to several irregularities in the investigations, including the violation of the right of Hakamada to remain silent and practice “inhuman” during interrogation.
The confession obtained by the investigating authorities was induced by mental and physical suffering
Hakamada admitted to the crime on the 19th day of a cycle of interrogations that lasted an average of 12 hours a day, although he subsequently tirelessly denied the facts from the first session of the trial.
Now, the Japanese justice system has ruled that the confession obtained by the investigating authorities was “provoked” through “mental and physical suffering.”
In addition, the sentence indicates that another of the main pieces of evidence used for his conviction, some items of clothing that supposedly belonged to the defendant and were found with apparent blood stains and remains of his DNA 14 months after the murder hidden in miso tanks (fermented soybeans), were “manufactured” by the researchers.
The former inmate did not attend the last session of the retrial, nor did he attend the previous 15 hearings, as Judge Kunii exempted him from appearing due to his “inability to offer credible testimony” given his mental condition.
Instead, her sister came.Hideko Hakamada, who, along with Iwao’s defense attorney, Hideyo Ogawa, was in charge of following up with the iron defense of the now acquitted Hakamada, a former professional boxer born in Shizuoka in 1936.
Upon hearing Kunii’s verdict, a visibly emotional Hideko Hakamada bowed to the judge and, returning to the place where she was receiving the sentence for her brother, shook hands with the lawyers.
Dozens of members of Civil groups supporting Hakamada Those who fought alongside him for his acquittal gathered at the gates of the Shizuoka Court this afternoon, waiting for him to be declared innocent, and celebrated the decision once it was announced.
Among them, Toshiki Yamazakiwho reacted to the judge’s decision on public broadcaster NHK: “Honestly, I am very happy and I hope that the sentence is set without being appealed.”
Hakamada was sentenced to death in 1968 for murdering the owner of the miso factory where he worked, his wife and the couple’s two children two years earlier, and then burning down their house.
Today’s verdict marks the fifth time in post-war Japan that a capital inmate has been acquitted after a retrial. The previous court decision of the same type took place 20 years ago. 35 years.
To his 88 years old and with a weakened mental condition after spending nearly half a century behind bars, the former boxer will receive compensation to be determined based on the years of imprisonment, provided there is no appeal by the prosecution.
The new verdict can be appealed within two weeks of being announced.
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