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A chief public prosecutor in central Japan on Wednesday apologized in person to an 88-year-old man who was acquitted in a retrial over a 1966 quadruple murder case, after spending more than four decades on death row.
“I am deeply sorry that you were placed in an uncertain legal status for a long time,” Hideo Yamada, chief of the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutors Office told Iwao Hakamata during a visit to his house in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Yamada added that he had “accepted the acquittal and does not regard Mr. Hakamata as the culprit.”
Hakamata’s 91-year-old sister, Hideko, was by his side as it has become difficult for him to communicate after his mental state deteriorated during decades of incarceration.
Hideo Yamada (L), chief of the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutors Office, bows in apology to Iwao Hakamata (C) and his sister Hideko during a visit to their home in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Nov. 27, 2024. (Pool photo)(Kyodo)
“Iwao and I both think it was fate. We are happy now that his acquittal is finalized,” Hideko told Yamada.
Hakamata was arrested in 1966 and his death sentence was finalized in 1980. He was released in 2014 after new evidence raised doubts about his conviction and was acquitted in a retrial in September this year. The verdict was finalized with the prosecutor’s decision not to appeal.
Hakamata was recognized as the world’s longest-serving death row inmate.
The Shizuoka District Court said in the ruling that Hakamata was subjected to “physical and mental pain” during questioning and his statements confessing to the crime were “fabricated.”
Takayoshi Tsuda, chief of the Shizuoka Prefectural Police also visited Hakamata’s house in October to apologize, promising to “conduct more thorough and appropriate investigations in the future.”
Hakamata was a former professional boxer and live-in employee at a miso maker when he was arrested for allegedly killing the firm’s senior managing director, his wife and two of their children. They were found dead from stab wounds at their house in Shizuoka Prefecture, which had been burned down.
He was indicted for murder, robbery and arson.
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