The Tokyo Supreme Court has ordered the trial of Iwao Hakamada, the world’s oldest death row inmate, to be reviewed.
The Tokyo Supreme Court has ordered a review of the trial of Iwao Hakamada, the oldest convict in the world. The man, an 87-year-old former boxer, has spent most of his life behind bars: in 1968 he was actually convicted of the murder of four people committed two years earlier. The old man spent nearly half a century in solitary confinement awaiting the death penalty, which the prisoner in Japan is only told a few hours beforehand.
Today, Hakamada suffers from mental health issues and has always pleaded innocent after a premiere forced confession. In 2014, after a complicated and lengthy legal battle, he was promised a new trial and immediate release, but prosecutors appealed and the sentence was overturned in 2018. In view of his poor health, he had been able to await the new verdict in freedom. At the end of 2020, the Japanese Supreme Court prevented Hakamada from being tried again in order to obtain an acquittal. But now it was time ordered a new try.
Hideaki Nakagawa, Director of Amnesty International Japan, said: “This verdict provides a long overdue opportunity to do so do justice to Hakamada Iwao, who spent more than half a century under the death penalty, despite the apparent injustice of the trial by which he was sentenced. His conviction was based on a forced “confession” and there are serious doubts about the other evidence used against him. But at the age of 87, he still hasn’t had the opportunity to appeal the sentence that has kept him under constant threat of the gallows for much of his life. Now that the Tokyo High Court has recognized Hakamada’s right to due process and denied him more than 50 years ago, it is imperative that prosecutors allow this to happen.”
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The Amnesty director then appealed to prosecutors: “Do not appeal today’s verdict and do not prolong the limbo Hakamada has been in since his ‘provisional release’ nine years ago,” hoping that the new trial will still go ahead Hakamada may continue to participate in the proceedings.