Japan acquits world's longest-serving death row prisoner – DW – 09/26/2024
www.dw.com
An 88-year-old man who was sentenced to death in 1968 for killing a family was cleared of all charges following a retrial in Japan. He spent most of his life on death row.
  • ms.lane@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    3 months ago

    DW blocks countries outside Europe, so if you can’t load the page, I’ve pasted the story below

    A former Japanese boxer convicted more than 50 years ago of killing his boss and family was acquitted by a Japanese court on Thursday.

    Shizuoka District Court ruled that 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada was innocent, in a retrial that was granted 10 years ago. The court’s presiding judge, Koshi Kunii, said the court acknowledged multiple fabrications of evidence and that Hakamada was not the culprit, according to broadcaster NHK.

    Hakamada is the fifth death row inmate granted a retrial in Japan’s post-war history. All four previous cases also resulted in acquittals.

    Hundreds of people queued in the morning at the court to try and secure a seat for the verdict in what has become a high-profile case that has gripped the nation.

    A long battle to clear his name - In 1968, Hakamada was convicted of the murder of a company director and three of his family members two years before. He at first denied the crime, but confessed after what he later described as a brutal police interrogation that included beatings.

    He was sentenced to death but lengthy appeals and the retrial process led to the postponement of his execution. A first appeal for a retrial was dismissed by a court 27 years after his sentencing. The latest retrial, which was finally approved by the court in 2023 after a second appeal was filed in 2008 by his sister, Hideko Hakamada, now 91, began in October.

    Japan is the only major industrialized democracy other than the United States to retain capital punishment. As of December, 107 prisoners were waiting for their death sentences to be carried out. The method used for execution is always hanging.

          • ms.lane@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            3 months ago

            Times-out here in Aus on multiple ISPs (Exetel/Superloop, Telstra and Optus)

            Having a look now though, it seems to just bounce between be12194.ccr41.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com and be5160.ccr42.fra03.atlas.cogentco.com

            Also it takes the most harebrained route, rather than going the speedy way up through Singapore>Middle East>Europe, it goes out to Japan > USA, LA > Phoenix, AZ > El Paso, TX > Dallas/Fort Worth > Atlanta > DC > London UK > Amsterdam <> France

            Thanks Cogent.

            Regardless, without a VPN to Germany I couldn’t read the article due to bad routing.