A Japanese court has acquitted an 88-year-old former boxer, reversing a decision that made him the world's longest-serving death row inmate. Iwao Hakamada was found not guilty in a retrial for a 1966 quadruple murder, where evidence was deemed fabricated and planted by investigators. This marks the fifth death row inmate to be found not guilty in postwar Japan, sparking a debate around abolishing the death penalty in the country.
Hakamada was convicted in 1968 for the killing of an executive and three family members, spending 48 years behind bars, with more than 45 on death row. The court's ruling highlighted the prosecutors' role in forcing a false confession from Hakamada during an 'inhumane' interrogation.
