Iwao Hakamada

JAPAN: FORMER DEATH ROW INMATE IWAO HAKAMATA FILES DAMAGES SUIT AGAINST GOVERNMENT

October 9, 2025:

A Japanese man who was acquitted last year in a retrial over a 1966 quadruple murder case filed a lawsuit on October 9, 2025 seeking around 600 million yen ($3.9 million) in damages from the state and local authorities, his lawyers said.
The amount claimed by 89-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who spent nearly half a century on death row, is the largest for a state compensation lawsuit involving a retrial that resulted in an acquittal, according to the lawyers.
In the lawsuit filed with the Shizuoka District Court, his lawyers aim to examine how his wrongful conviction occurred and assign responsibility for it.
Hakamada is not scheduled to make any statements during the trial as he suffers from post-incarceration syndrome and has difficulty communicating.
His sister Hideko, 92, who appeared in court hearings in his retrial on behalf of her brother, released a video message Thursday, saying "a path needs to be paved" for those fighting against unjust convictions.
In the ruling handed down on Sept. 26 last year, the district court said investigators had fabricated evidence, including five pieces of clothing Hakamada allegedly wore during the incident. The ruling was finalized on Oct. 9 last year.
The former professional boxer was a live-in employee at a miso maker when he was arrested in 1966 for allegedly killing the firm's senior managing director, his wife and two of their children. They were found dead from stab wounds at their house in Shizuoka Prefecture, which had been burned down.
Indicted for murder, robbery and arson, his death sentence was finalized in 1980.
In the compensation lawsuit, his lawyers will argue unlawful interrogations, concealment of evidence and wrongful verdicts occurred in addition to fabrication of key evidence.
The amount of the claim made against the central and Shizuoka prefectural governments includes the income Hakamada could have earned during the period of his imprisonment and compensation for the suffering caused by facing the fear of execution for many years.
It also includes damages for the distress following his release in 2014, as he continued to suffer from post-incarceration syndrome. But around 217 million yen in criminal compensation he received in April from the state was deducted in calculating the sum claimed, the lawyers said.
Hakamada filed a separate suit against the state last month, seeking about 5.5 million yen in damages for defamation over a statement made by Prosecutor General Naomi Unemoto that said the acquittal ruling was unacceptable.