New Delhi: World’s longest-serving death row inmate, Japan’s Iwao Hakamada, has been granted a retrial after over 50 years, reported BBC citing Amnesty International. Hakamada was sentenced to death in 1968 for murdering his boss, the man’s wife and their two children in 1966, the report added.
The 87-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who was a professional boxer, is on death row for nearly half a century.
He was given the death sentence after he confessed to the killing 20 days following the interrogation. Although, he later retracted his confession in court. Several rights groups have criticised Japan’s reliance on a confession which they alleged police often obtain by force.
The former professional boxer confessed after 20 days of interrogation during which he said he was beaten. He later retracted the confession in court.
Rights groups have criticised Japan's reliance on confessions, which they say police often obtain by force.
What Will Happen In Retrial?
In the retrial, judges will rule on whether DNA from blood stains found on clothing alleged to have been worn by the killer matches the clothes Hakamada was wearing on the day of the incident. His lawyers had argued for long that it did not and that the evidence was fabricated.
BBC mentioned that the process for a retrial could take years if a special appeal is filed. It added that lawyers have been protesting against this system.
A Timeline
In 1966, Iwao Hakamada was arrested and accused of robbing and killing his employer and his family at a miso or soybean processing factory in Shizuoka west of Tokyo. According to a BBC report, they were all found stabbed to death after a fire.
In 2014, Hakamada was granted a retrial by a district court and was released from jail. The court reportedly found that investigators could have planted evidence.
However, the decision of the retrial was later overturned by Tokyo's high court.
An appeal was filed in the country’s Supreme Court seeking a retrial in the case. The top court judges directed the high court to reconsider, leading to the ruling that a retrial should now go ahead.
Reactions To Retrial Order
Hakamada's sister Hideko said, "I was waiting for this day for 57 years and it has come." As per the report, 90-year-old Hideko has been campaigning for years for her brother. "Finally a weight has been lifted from my shoulders," she added.
Iwao Hakamada's family claims that his mental health has deteriorated after decades in jail.
Amnesty International welcomed the retrial order terming it a "long-overdue chance to deliver some justice". The group’s Japan director Hideaki Nakagawa said, "Hakamada's conviction was based on a forced 'confession' and there are serious doubts about the other evidence used against him."
Lawyers in Japan also welcomed the ruling, and called on prosecutors to "swiftly start the retrial process without issuing a special appeal to the Supreme Court".
Japan Federation of Bar Associations head Motoji Kobayashi said, as quoted by BBC, "We cannot afford any further delay to remedy Mr Hakamada, who has an advanced age of 87 and suffers mental and physical conditions after 47 years of physical restraint."