An 88-year-old man, the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, has been acquitted by a Japanese court.
Iwao Hakamada, who had been sentenced to death for more than half a century, was found guilty in 1968 of murdering his boss, his wife and their two teenage children.
He was recently granted a new trial amid allegations that detectives had planted evidence that led to his conviction for quadruple murder.
The ruling ends one of Japan’s longest and most famous legal cases.
The case attracted a lot of public interest, with about 500 people lining up outside the courtroom in Shizuoka on Thursday.
When the verdict was announced, Hakamada’s supporters outside the court cheered “banzai,” a Japanese exclamation meaning “hurray.”
In 2014, Hakamada was released from prison and granted a new trial by a Japanese court after defense lawyers demonstrated that DNA from bloodstains on clothing the killer was said to have worn did not match his own DNA.
Since then he has been living under the care of his sister, due to his deteriorating mental condition.
The lengthy legal proceedings meant that the new trial was delayed until last year. It was not until Thursday morning that the court could decide whether Hakamada would be acquitted of the charges or hanged.
Hakamada is only the fifth death row inmate to face retrial in the country’s post-war history.
