Former boxer who served world's longest death sentence speaks out after murder acquittal: 'I finally won'

The world's longest-serving death row prisoner thanked his supporters for helping him achieve a “complete victory” after a Japanese court judge last week overturned his decades-long murder conviction.

After a long fight for justice led by his 88-year-old sister Iwao Hakamada was declared innocent Thursday of quadruple murder for which he spent 46 years on death row.

“Finally, I have achieved complete victory,” the former boxer told a group of supporters on Sunday in Shizuoka, the region southwest of Tokyo where the verdict was handed down.

“I couldn’t wait” to hear the acquittal verdict, said a smiling Hakamada in a green hat.

“Thank you very much,” he added, accompanied by his 91-year-old sister Hideko at the meeting, which was broadcast on Japanese television.

Hakamada is the fifth death row inmate in Japan's postwar history to be granted a retrial. All four previous cases also resulted in exonerations.

Decades of imprisonment – mostly in solitary confinement and with the constant threat of execution – have severely affected Hakamada's mental health.

His lawyer and supporters described him as “living in a world of fantasy.”

Hakamada was released in 2014 pending retrial but rarely speaks publicly.

Despite the retrial, his acquittal is not yet final – prosecutors reportedly have until October 10 to decide whether to appeal the Shizuoka District Court ruling.

But they could face an uphill battle as the court issued a blanket rebuke of prosecutors' arguments, saying investigators had falsified key evidence.

Hakamada's initial confessions to robbing and murdering his boss, the man's wife and their two teenage children were coerced through “inhumane” interrogations and mental and physical torture, rendering them invalid, the ruling said.

Blood-stained clothing that was supposed to incriminate him was also classified as a set-up. The court said investigators bloodied them and placed them in a tank of miso-fermented soybean paste to be discovered.

Once final week's ruling becomes final, it would pave the way for Hakamada to receive more than $1.4 million in compensation, lawyers estimate.

In addition, the defense team is considering filing a new lawsuit against the state to seek further compensation, Hakamada's lead lawyer Hideyo Ogawa said at a news conference on Monday.

Given that the ruling went so far as to condemn a “concerted” effort by prosecutors and police to collect evidence, “I believe it gave us sufficient basis to sue the state,” Ogawa said.

His client was unable to attend the press conference for health reasons.

Hideko, who was present, recounted the moment she broke the news of the acquittal to her brother as he was “relaxing after bathing.”

“But he was completely silent. I think part of him still doubts that that really happened,” she said.

Asked about the possibility that prosecutors might decide to pursue the case, a confident Hideko replied: “If they want to, then do it as you see fit.”

According to Amnesty International, as of December 31, 2023, the death sentence for 107 of the 115 people on death row in Japan was carried out and “those on death row remained in solitary confinement.”

Japan and the United States are the only members of the G7, an informal grouping of seven of the world's largest democratic and economically advanced nations, that still impose the death penalty. However, according to the US-based Death Penalty Information Center, Japan has not carried out any executions since July 2022.

Last month, an Oklahoma city agreed to pay more than that $7 million to a former death row inmate who was exonerated after nearly 50 years in prison, making him the longest-serving inmate to be found innocent of a crime in the United States