By any reasonable legal means, Iwao Hakamada could not have lived to see his murder conviction overturned.
A former boxer who spent almost half a century on death row after being convicted of murdering a family of four in the late 1960s was acquitted last week in one of postwar Japan's most high-profile miscarriages of justice.
Hakamada, a death row inmate, spent over 45 years on death row. longer than any other prisoner in the world – After he was sentenced in 1980, he believed every day could be his last. But he will remain in custody for another 34 years while his defense team petitions for a retrial, a process that does not guarantee a stay of executions in Japan's opaque criminal justice system. .
He became the fifth death row inmate to be acquitted in a retrial in postwar Japan. Some were executed while their lawyers were lobbying to have their cases heard again in court.
The acquittal after decades of campaigning by his 91-year-old sister Hideko Hakamada prompted demands in Japanese media: Changes to the long and complex retrial processcampaigners said his case highlighted the risks posed by the death penalty.
Government officials have noted strong public support for the death penalty, with a 2019 survey by the Cabinet Office finding that 80% of respondents believed the death penalty was “necessary in some cases” and called for its abolition. Only 9% of them did.
But activists question the wording of the poll and the widespread lack of awareness about the method of execution.
Chiara Sangiorgio, an anti-death penalty campaigner at Amnesty International, said: “Analysis of public opinion polls, including in Japan, shows that support for the death penalty can be significantly influenced by the methodology used and the timing of the survey.'' “It has been done,” he says.
“The time has come for governments to recognize the human rights violations associated with the implementation of the death penalty and embark on a journey towards its complete abolition.”
“Finally, I have won complete victory.”
Currently 88 years old, Hakamada's long term incarceration has taken a toll on his mental and physical health. After the Shizuoka District Court acquitted him of the 1966 murder, he spoke a few words to his supporters.
“Finally, I have won complete victory,” he said. saidHideko was by his side, encouraging him to talk. He added that he “couldn't wait any longer” for the verdict. “thank you very much.”
Japan is the only developed country, along with the United States, that maintains the death penalty, but it has long resisted international pressure to abolish it. More than 140 countries and territories have abolished or suspended the death penalty by the end of 2022, while most U.S. states have abolished or suspended the death penalty, according to Amnesty International.
Japan has been singled out for its “inhumane” approach to executions, with prisoners told just an hour or two before they will be taken to the gallows and asked to choose their final meal. They are denied access to family and lawyers and are only informed after the execution.
Many death row inmates typically spend years or even decades on death row, with the threat of execution looming ever-present. According to Hakamada's supporters, such an impasse damaged his mental health and led him into a “world of fantasy.”
Amnesty International called for an immediate halt to executions, saying in a 2009 report that Japan's death row inmates were being “driven into insanity” and subjected to “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment. .
According to the Ministry of Justice, 77 people have been executed in Japan since 2007, and a further 107 remain on death row, of whom 61 have requested a retrial.
The ruling in Hakamada's case came 10 years after he was released pending a retrial, with the court finding that a police officer who fabricated key evidence that led to his conviction in 1968 was found guilty. He attacked harshly.
The judge said his initial confession to robbing and murdering the president of a miso maker, his wife and two teenage children was obtained through “inhumane” interrogation and mental and physical torture. That's what it means.
But with the efforts of his lawyers and supporters, as well as support for his campaign overseas, he could have helped the former Aum Shinrikyo Supreme Truth Doomsday cult, who was arrested in the 1995 subway sarin attack that killed 13 people. Mr. Hakamada may have suffered the same fate as the members. And thousands of people got sick. During the 2018 hanging, 10 of the 13 cult members executed had asked for a retrial.
“There is no perfect justice system.”
Japan's enthusiasm for capital punishment may depend on the belief of the justice minister, who must sign an execution order before a death can be carried out. No hanging was carried out in 2011, and the execution was effectively suspended by then-Minister of Justice Chiba Keiko, a skeptic who had previously ordered a review of the death penalty.
The last execution in Japan was in July 2022, of Tomohiro Kato, who killed seven people in a brutal knife attack in Akihabara, Tokyo in 2008.
However, the prospects for a permanent end to the death penalty are bleak. This week, Japan's new justice minister, Hideki Makihara, said abolishing the death penalty was “inappropriate” given the strength of public opinion.
Writing about the University of Oxford Faculty of Law Blog After the Hakamada ruling, Saul Lehrfreund, co-executive director of the association, said: death penalty project“Rather than use public opinion as an excuse for retaining the death penalty, Japan's political leaders should recognize that no judicial system is perfect and base their decisions on informed and rational assessments of cases to abolish the death penalty. It should be lowered.”
“The legacy of this terrible human tragedy must be a change in the government's stance on the future of the death penalty.”
