Tag - iwao-hakamata

 
 

IWAO HAKAMATA

Iwao Hakamata (right) and his sister Hideko attend a news conference on Nov. 29
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2024
Sister of ex-death row inmate Iwao Hakamata wins human rights award
The Tokyo Bar Association said it recognized Hideko Hakamata's decadeslong efforts to save her brother and her work to eradicate wrongful convictions.
Hideo Yamada (left), head of the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutor's Office, apologizes to former death row inmate Iwao Hakamata (second from right) at his home in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 27, 2024
Shizuoka prosecutor apologizes to Hakamata following his acquittal
The Shizuoka District Court acquitted Iwao Hakamata last September, ruling that investigating authorities had fabricated evidence in the 1966 murder case.
Iwao Hakamata at his home in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, in October. The former boxer was acquitted of a 1966 quadruple murder in September after a retrial.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 21, 2024
Chief prosecutor in central Japan to apologize in person to Iwao Hakamata
The head of the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutor's Office is expected to meet the former boxer recently acquitted of a quadruple murder over his lengthy legal battle.
Shizuoka Prefectural Police Chief Takayoshi Tsuda bows to Iwao Hakamata (second from right), recently exonerated over a 1966 murder, and others on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 21, 2024
Shizuoka police chief apologizes to Iwao Hakamata after his acquittal
Takayoshi Tsuda visited the home of Hakamata, 88, in the city of Hamamatsu, bowing deeply for about two minutes.
Iwao Hakamata (left) gestures beside his older sister, Hideko, at a gathering with supporters on Monday in the city of Shizuoka, his first public appearance since his exoneration over a 1966 murder case.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 15, 2024
Ex-boxer Hakamata set to vote for the first time in decades
Efforts are being made to allow the world's longest-held death row inmate, who has been exonerated over a 1966 murder case, to vote in the Oct. 27 general election.
Iwao Hakamata (center) makes his first public appearance on Monday in the city of Shizuoka after achieving a complete acquittal.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 14, 2024
Hakamata makes first public appearance since acquittal
He received flowers from his supporters and a boxing champion's belt.
Hideko Hakamata (left), the older sister of ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata, and Hideyo Ogawa, an attorney on his defense team, speak at a news conference on Tuesday in the city of Shizuoka, following prosecutors' decision not to file an appeal against the Shizuoka District Court's not-guilty verdict in a retrial of a 1966 murder case against Iwao Hakamata.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 9, 2024
Japan’s ‘hostage justice’ system breeds false convictions, groups say
False convictions will continue to occur unless the system of extracting confessions through prolonged, harsh interrogations is eliminated, human rights groups say.
Iwao Hakamata, together with his sister Hideko, speaks to his supporters on Sept. 29 in the city of Shizuoka after the Shizuoka District Court handed down a not-guilty verdict in a retrial of a 1966 quadruple murder case against him.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 8, 2024
Ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata finally exonerated over 1966 murder case
Prosecutors have decided not to appeal against the Shizuoka District Court's not-guilty verdict at the end of a rare retrial, his lawyers said.
Japan's new justice minister Hideki Makihara says abolishing the death penalty would be "inappropriate."
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2024
New justice minister says scrapping death penalty 'inappropriate'
Capital punishment has strong public support in Japan, where scrapping it is rarely discussed.
Hideko Hakamata (center) and lawyers representing her younger brother, Iwao Hakamata, pose with a banner that reads "Iwao Hakamata verdict not guilty" as they leave the Shizuoka District Court on Thursday after the ruling was delivered.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 26, 2024
In rare retrial, Shizuoka court rules ex-boxer not guilty of 1966 murders
Iwao Hakamata, the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, has maintained his innocence for decades.
Iwao Hakamata in March 2023 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Hakamata was convicted in 1968 over the fatal stabbings of a couple and their children two years earlier. He has pleaded his innocence throughout his trial, maintaining that his confession was coerced.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 25, 2024
In Japan, the road to exoneration takes decades
Defense lawyers’ extremely limited access to evidence and prosecutors’ right to appeal a court order for a retrial result in a long, drawn-out process.
Iwao Hakamata's older sister Hideko (left) marches to the Shizuoka District Court in the city of Shizuoka on Wednesday for a retrial of her younger brother Iwao, who had been on death row over a 1966 murder case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2024
Trial ruling date for man accused of 1966 murder set for September
Iwao Hakamata, who in a rare example is being retried over a 1966 murder case, will be given a verdict on Sept. 26.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2023
Shizuoka prosecutors to push for guilty verdict in Hakamata retrial
Prosecutors have said they plan to argue that the March retrial decision by the Tokyo High Court was “groundless.”
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 24, 2023
Iwao Hakamata: The former pro-boxer fighting for exoneration, with help from his sister
The day of his arrest forever changed the course of Hakamata's life, but it was also the beginning of a long, drawn out fight for exoneration.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 20, 2023
Tokyo prosecutors decide not to appeal Iwao Hakamata retrial decision
The case will now be sent to the Shizuoka District Court, with a high possibility that Hakamata will be exonerated over murders in 1966.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 17, 2023
Prosecutors to challenge decision to reopen Iwao Hakamata murder case
The Tokyo High Court decided to reopen the case after the Supreme Court canceled the high court's previous ruling rejecting the retrial plea by Iwao Hakamata.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 13, 2023
Tokyo High Court orders retrial in 1966 Iwao Hakamata murder case
After nearly six decades, 10 court decisions and more than 30 years on death row, the court on Monday ordered a retrial for the 87-year-old convicted murderer and former pro-boxer.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 6, 2023
Tokyo High Court to decide whether to reopen Iwao Hakamata murder case
The decision on whether to reopen the high-profile 1966 Shizuoka Prefecture murder case will come on March 13, defense lawyers in the case have said.

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