Skip to main content

Japan | Prosecutors seek death penalty in Iwao Hakamada's retrial

TOKYO: Japanese prosecutors on Wednesday (May 22) sought the death penalty in the retrial of a man reputed to have been the world's longest-serving death row prisoner until his release in 2014, local media reported.

Former boxer Iwao Hakamada, now 88, spent nearly five decades on death row after being convicted in 1968 of robbing and murdering his boss, the man's wife and their two teenage children.

But in 2014, he was freed and a retrial was ordered after a court said investigators could have planted evidence.

The retrial began in October after the Tokyo High Court reversed course and ordered the district court to retry Hakamada in March 2023, citing the unreliability of the main evidence used.

The high court said there was a strong possibility the five pieces of blood-stained clothing that Hakamata was alleged to have worn during the incident had been planted by investigators in the tank of miso soybean paste they were found in.

At the retrial on Wednesday in Shizuoka, south of Tokyo, the prosecution argued that Hakamada's guilt could be proven "beyond reasonable doubt", the Asahi Shimbun daily said.

Prosecutors said Hakamada "committed the crimes for money" in their closing statements.

His defence lawyers are seeking an acquittal for Hakamada, whose case has become a famous saga in Japan. He will likely be acquitted, as the country's criminal procedure law says that a retrial will be opened if there is "clear evidence the accused is not guilty."

Japan is the only major industrialised democracy other than the United States to retain capital punishment, and the practice has broad public support.

Hakamada's supporters say his decades of detention, mostly in solitary confinement with the ever-present threat of execution, took a heavy toll on his mental health.

In a 2018 interview with AFP, Hakamada said he felt he was "fighting a bout every day".

He had initially denied the charges, but then confessed - following what he later described as a brutal police interrogation that included beatings.

His attempts to retract his confession were in vain and his original verdict was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1980.

But Hakamada continued to maintain his innocence. His sister Hideko, now 91, has tirelessly pleaded with the public to review the case.

After a prolonged battle, a district court in Shizuoka granted a retrial in 2014 and issued a stay for Hakamada's incarceration and the death penalty.

Tokyo's High Court overturned the lower court ruling four years later.

But the legal back-and-forth wasn't over: In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the Tokyo High Court must reconsider its decision, and last year the High Court ordered a retrial.

Hakamada's plight has attracted deep public sympathy, with even national lawmakers forming a special group to offer their support. 

Hakamada was exempted from attending the retrial proceedings due to his deteriorated mental state after having been incarcerated for such a long period

During the retrial, Hideko took the central role in defence of her sickly brother.

Source: Agence France-Presse, Agencies Staff, May 22, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________








"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Labels:
Location: Japan

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Tennessee Supreme Court denies stay for death row inmate Christa Pike

(TNND) — As Tennessee prepares for a Sept. 30 execution, the Tennessee Supreme Court has denied death row inmate Christa Gail Pike’s request to stop it. The court rejected Pike’s challenge to the state’s lethal-injection protocol, finding that her thrombocytosis diagnosis, a condition involving elevated blood platelets, did not show the execution would violate the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Post a Comment
Read more

Philippines | President Marcos Grants Absolute Pardon to Mary Jane Veloso

President Marcos Confirms Decision to Grant Absolute Pardon to Mary Jane Veloso  President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has signed an absolute pardon for Mary Jane Veloso after more than a decade.  On Friday (September 25, 2026), the President confirmed the decision during a visit to Guiuan, Eastern Samar.  According to him, the pardon was officially signed the previous day, marking a major development in the case.  
Post a Comment
Read more

William Thompson Faces Execution in Florida Amid Dementia, Terminal Illness Concerns

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed an exe­cu­tion war­rant for 74-year-old pris­on­er William ​“Bill” Thompson less than 24 hours after he was released from the hos­pi­tal to the hos­pice wing of the prison. After his attor­neys raised seri­ous con­cerns about his men­tal com­pe­ten­cy and dete­ri­o­rat­ing phys­i­cal health, Gov. DeSantis agreed to tem­porar­i­ly stay the exe­cu­tion so Mr. Thompson’s com­pe­ten­cy can be eval­u­at­ed on October 1. If he is found com­pe­tent, his exe­cu­tion remains sched­uled for October 13.
Post a Comment
Read more

DNA evidence doesn’t match man who spent decades on death row, Utah prosecutors say

Douglas Stewart Carter, 71, was sentenced to death in 1985 after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen Prosecutors are dropping their plan to seek the death penalty in an upcoming retrial of a Utah man who spent decades on death row for a 1985 killing in which newly analyzed DNA evidence did not match him. Douglas Stewart Carter, 71, was sentenced to death in 1985 after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen, the aunt of a former Provo police chief. The state Supreme Court last year ordered a new trial, citing misconduct by investigators. Carter remains in custody and maintains his innocence.
Post a Comment
Read more

Tennessee | Governor permits Christa Pike execution: 'I am upholding the sentence'

Gov. Bill Lee does not plan to stop Christa Pike's execution. Pike, 50, is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection 10 a.m. Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. “After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike’s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene," Lee said in a statement released Sept. 28. Pike's attorneys lamented the news.
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida | He executed death row prisoners. Then they came back to haunt him

Dunnellon, Florida—Every night, one of the men Ron McAndrew killed would sit at the foot of his bed and stare, blankly, into his tortured soul. He knew they were coming. He’d shift over in his sheets to make room. “They never said anything,” McAndrew recalls, his aged voice straining from the weight of the memory. “They just sat there and looked at me.” But their eyes would talk. They would ask, "How could you do such a thing?’” says McAndrew. “You always claimed to be a good person. And now you’re killing people.”
Post a Comment
Read more

Texas executes Ker’Sean Ramey

Texas executes man for a triple killing, days after other man convicted in case was put to death  A man was executed Wednesday evening in Texas for a triple killing committed during an attempted robbery at a rural home, 1 week after the other man convicted in the case was put to death.  Ker’Sean Ramey, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m. CDT following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was the 6th person executed this year in Texas, with 3 more lethal injections scheduled in the state over the next 2 months. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida executes Curtis Beasley

A 77-year-old man convicted of killing a woman with a hammer has become the 16th person executed this year in Florida  A 77-year-old Florida man was put to death Tuesday for his conviction in a deadly hammer attack on a woman decades ago, becoming the 16th person executed to date this year in the nation’s busiest death chamber.  Curtis Wilkie Beasley was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of 1st-degree murder, robbery, and grand theft auto in the 1995 hammer attack on Carolyn Monfort at her home south of Orlando. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Singapore | Ministry of Home Affairs refutes claims that death penalty was discussed during visit by Israel's security ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs says discussions with the Israeli government involved the sharing of best practices in emergency response, crime prevention, and forensics. Issues relating to the death penalty “were never part of the meeting and were not discussed."  SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Sep 11) refuted claims by an Israeli media outlet that the death penalty was discussed during a visit by an Israeli delegation in May. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Sep 7 that a delegation comprising representatives from the Israel Prison Service and National Security Ministry made a “secret visit” to Singapore that month.
Post a Comment
Read more

Tennessee | Christa Pike Requests Clemency Ahead of September 30 Execution Date; Experts’ Amicus Brief Points to ​‘Substantial Risk’ of Re-traumatization

Lawyers for Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, filed a 226-page clemen­cy peti­tion with Governor Bill Lee, ask­ing him to com­mute her death sen­tence to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole ahead of her September 30 exe­cu­tion date. Ms. Pike’s clemen­cy peti­tion out­lines the case her team has built over decades of appeals: her actions at 18 years old can­not be sep­a­rat­ed from a child­hood marked by repeat­ed rape, sex­u­al abuse, and neglect that went unad­dressed by the adults and state sys­tems meant to pro­tect her. Once incar­cer­at­ed, Ms. Pike was diag­nosed with bipo­lar dis­or­der and post-trau­mat­ic stress disorder.
Post a Comment
Read more