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Iwao Hakamata, 89, has been awarded $1.45 million in compensation for his wrongful conviction and nearly five decades spent on death row in Japan. This marks the largest payout in a criminal case in the nation’s history, according to local media.
Hakamata was convicted in 1968 of murdering his boss, the boss’s wife, and their two children. He was acquitted last year after a retrial, which followed years of appeals and a rare granting of a retrial in 2014. His release at that time came amid suspicions of planted evidence.
His lawyers argued that the 47 years Hakamata spent in detention, which made him the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, severely impacted his mental health. The judge agreed, acknowledging the “extremely severe” mental and physical pain he endured. Hakamata was deemed unfit to attend the final hearing due to his deteriorated mental state, a condition that also exempted him from prior hearings.
The case began in 1966 when the bodies of the family were discovered in their burned home in Shizuoka, west of Tokyo. All four victims had been stabbed. Hakamata, who worked at a miso processing plant, initially confessed but later recanted, claiming coercion through beatings and extended interrogations.
DNA evidence that didn’t match Hakamata’s, along with allegations of planted evidence, eventually led to his retrial being granted in 2014. However, lengthy legal procedures delayed the retrial until last October.
The case has sparked scrutiny of Japan’s justice system, particularly regarding the duration of retrial processes and the issue of forced confessions. Hakamata has been under the care of his 91-year-old sister, Hideko, since his 2014 release. Hideko tirelessly campaigned for decades to clear her brother’s name.