Iwao Hakamada, the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, received an astonishing sum of money after being found not guilty. An irreparable miscarriage of justice. Last September, Japan’s Iwao Hakamada was found innocent after spending almost 50 years on death row. The 89-year-old from Shizuoka was sentenced to death for the murders of his boss, his wife and their two children in 1968.
After a long legal battle led for the most part by his sister, the octogenarian was exonerated last year. The former boxer spent more than five decades behind bars, including 46 years on death row. Iwao Hakamada repeatedly denied the charges against him. He was granted a retrial in 2014 and released. The reason? New DNA evidence cast doubt on the reliability of his conviction, according to Amnesty International.
The ex-convict is to receive compensation When his sentence was reviewed, a judge found that evidence against the accused had been “fabricated”. The defence team also argued that the investigators had carried out “inhumane interrogations” in order to inflict “physical and mental pain” and obtain “statements under duress”. Iwao Hakamada is the fifth Japanese death row inmate to receive a retrial. It should be noted that the four previous cases also resulted in verdicts of innocence.
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Following his release, the ex-prisoner received damages. As reported by LADbible, the 89-year-old received nearly 1.2 million euros, a Japanese court spokesman said on Tuesday.”The plaintiff will be awarded 217,362,500,000 yen”, the equivalent of 1.2 million euros, a court spokesman told AFP.
This amount is the maximum possible under Japan’s law on compensation for defendants who are finally exonerated, which provides for compensation of up to 12,500 yen (77 euros) for each day spent in detention.
Defence lawyer Ogawa Hideyo told the media that the state had made a mistake that “no amount of money could compensate for”.
