The head of a public prosecutor's office in Shizuoka Prefecture on Wednesday directly apologized to Iwao Hakamata, who was recently acquitted in a retrial decades after he was convicted over the 1966 murder of four people.
Hideo Yamada, head of the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutor's Office, visited the home of Hakamata in the city of Hamamatsu to meet with the 88-year-old former death-row inmate.
The Shizuoka District Court last September acquitted Hakamata, ruling that investigation authorities had fabricated evidence.
In response, Prosecutor-General Naomi Unemoto said the ruling was unacceptable and should be reviewed by a higher court.
Lawyers for Hakamata criticized Unemoto, saying the remarks regard him as a criminal and could be accused of defamation.
Yamada has said he planned to tell Hakamata that Unemoto had no intention of regarding him as a criminal, according to people familiar with the matter.
Takayoshi Tsuda, chief of Shizuoka Prefectural Police, apologized to Hakamata during a meeting last month.
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