A court in central Japan has ordered the payment of approximately $1.45 million in compensation to a man who spent 47 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. UNN writes about this with reference to NHK.
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Former professional boxer Hakamada Iwao was accused of murdering a family of four in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1966. In total, the man spent 47 years in prison. Of these, about 33 years were spent awaiting the death penalty to which he was sentenced in 1980. Hakamata was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-sentenced to death in the world.
During the retrial, the man was released in 2014. He is now 89 years old. And in October last year, Hakamata was fully acquitted. At that time, the Japanese was 88 years old. This marked the end of decades of struggle for his family. According to the Kyodo news agency, the court ruled that the evidence was "fabricated"
The lawyer appointed as Hakamada's guardian demanded compensation of 12,500 yen, or about $84 per day, which is the upper limit allowed by law. On March 24, the District Court decided to pay the full amount to Hakamada. Hakamada Iwao's defense team says that the amount of compensation received is the largest in Japan.
Presiding Judge Kuni Koshi noted that Hakamada was subjected to an inhumane interrogation coordinated by various investigative organizations and added that the five items of clothing fabricated by investigators were the main evidence of his innocence.