Justice has finally been served. This Thursday, the world was moved by the news that a former Japanese boxer was acquitted of murder after having been sentenced to death almost 60 years ago.
According to his legal team, the Shizuoka District Court acquitted 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada in a new trial for the murders of four people in central Japan in 1966, thus ending what is said to be the longest time spent on death row in the world.
"It was sweet to hear the words "not guilty" in the courtroom," said Hideko Hakamada, who has fought for decades to clear her younger brother's name.
Who is the Japanese former boxer who was declared innocent after being sentenced to death for 56 years?
Iwao Hakamada had been a professional boxer and spent 45 years on death row before a court ordered his release and a new trial in 2014 amid doubts about the evidence on which his conviction was based.
“When I heard that, I got excited and felt so happy that I couldn't stop crying,” commented the man in a televised press conference, who now lives with his sister after being released.
Hakamada had been accused of stabbing to death his former boss and his family before setting their house on fire and briefly admitted to committing the murders, but later retracted his confession and declared his innocence during the trial. However, he was sentenced to death in 1968, a penalty that the Supreme Court of Japan confirmed in 1980.
Hakamada's lawyers had argued that the DNA tests conducted on the blood-stained clothing that supposedly belonged to their client demonstrated that the blood was not his.
The human rights group Amnesty International praised the exoneration as a “crucial moment for justice” and urged Japan to abolish the death penalty.