An 87-year-old former boxer, Iwao Hakamada, who has spent over five decades on death row, has been granted a retrial by Tokyo’s high court.
Hakamada was convicted of murder in the 1966 killing of a company manager and three of his family members, and setting fire to their central Japan home, where he was a live-in employee.
His lawyers had argued that his conviction was based on a forced confession and fabricated evidence.
Amnesty International has called Hakamada the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner.
He has been temporarily released since 2014 but has not been cleared of charges.
The Tokyo High Court said Hakamada deserves a retrial because there is a possibility that a key piece of evidence that led to his conviction could have been fabricated by investigators.
The evidence in question is five pieces of blood-stained clothing that investigators said Hakamada allegedly wore during the crime and hid in a tank of fermented soybean paste, or miso, found more than a year after his arrest.
The court acknowledged scientific experiments that show clothing soaked in miso for more than a year turns too dark for blood stains to be spotted, suggesting there is a possibility of fabrication, most likely by investigators.
Hakamada initially denied the accusations but later confessed, which he said was due to violent interrogation by police. He was sentenced to death two years later.
The Supreme Court ordered the lower court to reconsider the case after the Shizuoka District Court in central Japan suspended his execution and ordered a retrial in 2014.
That ruling was later overturned by the Tokyo High Court. However, the Supreme Court ruled in Hakamada’s favour on Thursday after a second appeal was filed in 2008.
