A Japanese court has awarded Iwao Hakamata, an 89-year-old former professional boxer, a record $1.4m (£1.08m) in compensation for his wrongful conviction and the 45 years he spent on death row.
This marks the “highest amount” ever granted in Japan for a miscarriage of justice, claims his legal representative Hideyo Ogawa, adding that it is a mere fraction of what he endured.
“I think the state (government) has made a mistake that cannot be atoned for with 200 million yen,” the lawyer said, according to NHK.
Hakamata was convicted in 1968 for the murder of his employer, his employer’s wife, and their two children in Shizuoka, central Japan.
The case relied heavily on a confession he later retracted, claiming it was extracted under duress during intense police interrogations. For decades, he maintained his innocence, insisting that the evidence against him had been fabricated.
Mr Hakamada was released from prison in 2014 when a court ordered a retrial based on new evidence suggesting that his conviction may have been based on fabricated accusations.
He was found not guilty on 26 September last year by the Shizuoka court, which concluded that police and prosecutors collaborated in fabricating and planting evidence against him.
But after spending nearly half a century in solitary confinement, the psychological damage was irreversible. His sister, Hideko Hakamata, who had campaigned relentlessly for his freedom, revealed that his prolonged incarceration had left him struggling to distinguish between reality and delusion.
“Sometimes he smiles happily, but that’s when he’s in his delusion,” she told CNN. “We have not even discussed the trial with Iwao because of his inability to recognise reality.”
Hakamada became the fifth death row inmate to be found not guilty in a retrial in postwar Japan, where prosecutors have a more than 99 per cent conviction rate and retrials are extremely rare.
Following his acquittal, Japan’s Prosecutor-General Naomi Unemoto expressed regret over the prolonged legal battle he faced, saying: “We feel sorry for putting him in a legally unstable situation for an extremely long time.”
The Shizuoka police department also took the rare step of issuing a formal apology, with its chief bowing deeply before Hakamata in acknowledgment of the grave miscarriage of justice.
“We are sorry to have caused you unspeakable mental distress and burden for as long as 58 years from the time of the arrest until the acquittal was finalised,” Shizuoka prefectural police chief Takayoshi Tsuda said, as he stood straight in front of Hakamada and bowed deeply. “We are terribly sorry.”
Additional reporting by agencies
