45 Years In Prison On Charges Of Murder, This Japanese Man Was Released After Retrial

JAKARTA - Having spent a long time in prison for being accused of murder, this man in Japan was finally released because he was innocent in a trial held on Thursday, September 26. This free sentence, as reported by NHK, also ended the family's long struggle to seek justice.

Shizuoka district court acquitted Iwao Hakamada (88), in a retrial of the murder of four people in central Japan in 1966, according to the NHK quoted via Reuters, Thursday, September 26.

Hakamada was sentenced to death and had spent 45 years in prison before the court ordered his release and a retrial in 2024 amid doubts about the evidence that was the basis for his verdict.

The former boxer was accused of stabbing to death by his former boss and family before setting fire to their house.

Meskipun ia sempat mengaku melakukan pembunuhan, ia menarik pengakuan tersebut dan mengaku tidak bersalah selama persidangannya, tetapi tetap dijatuhi hukuman mati pada 1968, hukuman yang dihitung oleh Mahkamah Agung Jepang pada tahun 1980.

Norimichi Kumamoto, one of three judges at Shizuoka's court who sentenced Hakamada to the death penalty, filed a request to the Supreme Court for a retrial in 2008, but the petition was rejected.

Lawyer Hakamada argues that the DNA test on the bloody clothes allegedly belonging to their client shows that the blood does not belong to him.

Since his release, Hakamada has lived with his older sister, Hideko, who has struggled for decades to clear his name.

Human rights group Amnesty International welcomes this release as an "important moment of justice" and urges Japan to abolish the death penalty.

"After undergoing nearly half a century of wrong prisons and 10 years of waiting for a retrial, this decision is an important acknowledgment of the deep injustices he has experienced for most of his life," Amnesty said.