Sunday, October 29, 2023

Japan Court Supports Retrial for 87-Year-Old on Death Row

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The Tokyo High Court has ordered a retrial for Iwao Hakamada, an 87-year-old former professional boxer who spent over 45 years on death row after being convicted of murder. The decision comes after new DNA evidence emerged, casting doubt on the reliability of his original conviction. Hakamada was given temporary release in March 2014, and the court that initially convicted him called for a retrial. Amnesty International Japan has described the ruling as a “long-overdue chance” at justice for Hakamada, whose conviction was based on a forced confession and other questionable evidence.

Hakamada’s sister, Hideko, who has campaigned tirelessly for her brother’s release, expressed her relief at the news. She said, “I was waiting for this day for 57 years and it has come. Finally, a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.” Amnesty International has urged prosecutors not to appeal against the court ruling.

Hakamada was a successful professional boxer in Japan before he suffered a knee injury that ended his career. He later opened a bar, but it did not do well, and his marriage broke down. In 1965, he met Fumio Hashiguchi, the owner of a miso factory where he got a job. In 1966, Hashiguchi and his family were found dead in their home, and Hakamada was arrested two months later, despite there being no evidence to link him to the crime.

Police interrogated Hakamada for 20 days without a lawyer until he eventually confessed. However, he later retracted his statement, saying he had been beaten, threatened, and forced to confess by the police. During the trial, a laboratory specialist testified that the drop of blood found in Hakamada’s pyjamas was insufficient to be analysed. A year after the murders and Hakamada’s arrest, prosecutors and courts produced bloodstained clothes as key evidence. They claimed the five items of clothing that had been found inside a miso tank about 14 months after the murder were the clothes worn by the killer.

Despite concerns about the evidence, Hakamada was convicted and jailed in 1968. His subsequent efforts to retract the confession failed, and the verdict was upheld by Japan’s top court in 1980. Hakamada is thought to have spent more time on death row than any other prisoner anywhere in the world, much of it in solitary confinement. Condemned prisoners in Japan are usually told that they will be executed on the morning that the sentence will be carried out, and Hakamada’s supporters say the experience compounded the trauma of his imprisonment, causing him long-term mental health issues.

Hakamada’s temporary release in 2014 came after the Shizuoka district court agreed he should have a retrial because of new DNA evidence related to the clothing. In later appeals, Hakamada’s defence team argued that the clothing evidence was planted. The decision to open a retrial was also based on more than 600 other pieces of evidence which the prosecutor was ordered by the court to disclose, according to Amnesty International. While he has been out of prison for nine years and living with Hideko, Hakamada remains under sentence of death, and prosecutors have appealed against the decision to allow him a retrial.

In June 2018, the Tokyo High Court overruled the lower court’s decision and denied a retrial. However, after Hakamada’s lawyers appealed, the Supreme Court in December 2020 overturned the High Court’s decision and asked the lower court to re-examine the appeal. The recent decision by the Tokyo High Court to grant Hakamada a retrial marks a significant step forward in his long fight for justice.

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