Japan acquits longest-serving death row inmate in retrial [Video]

TOKYO –

A Japanese court ruled Thursday that an 88-year-old former boxer was not guilty in a retrial for a 1966 quadruple murder, reversing an earlier decision that made him the world’s longest-serving death row inmate.

Iwao Hakamada’s acquittal by the Shizuoka District Court makes him the fifth death-row convict to be found not guilty in a retrial in postwar Japanese criminal justice. The case could rekindle a debate around abolishing the death penalty in Japan.

The court’s presiding judge, Koshi Kunii, said the court acknowledged multiple fabrications of evidence and that Hakamada was not the culprit, Hakamada’s lawyer said

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After the two-hour full explanation of the ruling that followed the main sentencing, his 91-year-old sister Hideko Hakamada walked out of the courthouse with a big smile, welcomed by burst of cheers and two big bouquets …