The world’s longest-serving death row prisoner was acquitted on Thursday, more than half a century after his murder conviction when a Japanese court ruled that evidence had been fabricated.
Ailing health prevented 88-year-old former boxer Iwao Hakamada from being in the court to learn the outcome of his retrial, which was granted a decade ago after a long campaign by supporters.
But his 91-year-old sister Hideko, who often speaks for him, bowed deeply to the Shizuoka District Court judge who declared Hakamada innocent.
Hakamada spent 46 years on death row after being convicted in 1968 of killing his boss, the man’s wife and their two teenage children.
Hundreds of people queued in the morning to try to secure a seat for the verdict in the murder saga that has gripped the nation and sparked scrutiny of Japan’s justice system.
Hideko wore a white jacket and, asked if it symbolized her brother’s innocence, said she had deliberately avoided dark colors.
