Japan is the only major industrialised democracy other than US to retain capital punishment
\n SHIZUOKA
\nThe world\u2019s longest-serving death row prisoner was acquitted on Thursday, more than half a century after his murder conviction, when a Japanese court ruled that evidence had been fabricated.
\nAiling health prevented 88-year-old former boxer Iwao Hakamada from being in the court to learn the outcome of his retrial, which was granted a decade ago after a long campaign by supporters.
\nBut his 91-year-old sister Hideko, who often speaks for him, bowed deeply to the Shizuoka District Court judge who declared Hakamada innocent.
\nHakamada spent 46 years on death row after being convicted in 1968 of killing his boss, the man\u2019s wife and their two teenage children.
\n\u201cInvestigators tampered with clothes by getting blood on them\u201d which they then hid in a tank of miso, or fermented soybean paste, said Thursday\u2019s ruling, seen by AFP.
\nIt also slammed the use of \u201cinhumane interrogations meant to force a statement… by imposing mental and physical pain\u201d.
\n\u201cThe prosecution\u2019s records were obtained by effectively infringing on the defendant\u2019s right to remain silent, under circumstances extremely likely to elicit a false confession,\u201d the ruling said.
\nHundreds of people queued in the morning to try to secure a seat for the verdict in the murder saga that has gripped the nation and sparked scrutiny of Japan\u2019s justice system.
\n\u201cI went to the prosecutors\u2019 office and said, \u2018don\u2019t force us to fight until I turn 100\u2019,\u201d Hideko told reporters before the verdict.
\nHideko wore a white jacket and, asked if it symbolised her brother\u2019s innocence, said she had deliberately avoided dark colours.
\n\u2018A bout every day\u2019
\nJapan is the only major industrialised democracy other than the United States to retain capital punishment, a policy that has broad public support.
\nHakamada is the fifth death row inmate granted a retrial in Japan\u2019s post-war history. All four previous cases also resulted in exonerations.
\nHis lead lawyer Hideyo Ogawa said Hakamada sometimes seems like he \u201clives in a world of fantasy\u201d after decades of detention, mostly in solitary confinement.
\nDescribing his battle to obtain an acquittal to AFP in 2018, Hakamada said he felt he was \u201cfighting a bout every day\u201d.
\n\u201cOnce you think you can\u2019t win, there is no path to victory,\u201d he said.
\nHakamada appeared not to be aware of the decision yet after Japanese media reported that supporters had removed the batteries from his television remote control on Thursday so he could not watch the verdict live.
\nHideko told reporters before the hearing she wanted to tell him the news soon, but at the right moment.
\nHe was filmed shortly after the decision leaving home to go for a walk, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and a green hat.
\n\u2018Hostage justice\u2019
\nThe Supreme Court upheld Hakamada\u2019s death sentence in 1980 but his supporters fought for decades to have the case reopened.
\nA turning point came in 2014 when a retrial was granted and Hakamada was released from prison. However, legal wrangling, including a pushback by prosecutors, meant it took until last year for the retrial to begin.
\n\u201cFor so long, we have fought a battle that has felt endless,\u201d Hideko told reporters in July.
\nHakamada initially denied having robbed and murdered the victims in 1966, but then confessed following what he later described as a brutal police interrogation that included beatings.
\nSupporter Atsushi Zukeran, wearing a T-shirt saying \u201cFree Hakamada Now\u201d, said outside the court the case was \u201ca painful reminder of how Japan\u2019s criminal justice system must change\u201d.
\nGiven how long the affair dragged on, \u201cpart of me wouldn\u2019t be able to celebrate the acquittal entirely\u201d, Zukeran said.
\nHakamada\u2019s case is \u201cjust one of countless examples of Japan\u2019s so-called \u2018hostage justice\u2019 system\u201d, Teppei Kasai, Asia programme officer for Human Rights Watch, told AFP ahead of the verdict.
\nAmnesty International said it was \u201coverjoyed\u201d by the outcome.
\n\u201cAfter enduring almost half a century of wrongful imprisonment and a further 10 years waiting for his retrial, this verdict is an important recognition of the profound injustice he endured for most of his life,\u201d the group\u2019s East Asia Researcher Boram Jang said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Japan is the only major industrialised democracy other than US to retain capital punishment SHIZUOKA The world\u2019s longest-serving death row prisoner was acquitted on Thursday, more than half a century after his murder conviction, when a Japanese court ruled that evidence had been fabricated. Ailing health prevented 88-year-old former boxer Iwao Hakamada from being in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-433726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n