Japan grants $1.4m to record-breaking death row inmate

A wrongly convicted man who spent close to 50 years on the death row has been compensated in Japan of 217 million yen ($1.44 million).

Iwao Hakamada’s legal team, which was made public last year after his conviction for a 1966 murder was overturned, claimed on Tuesday that the highest-ever criminal compensation had been given to him in Japan.

The former boxer, who is now 89, was given 12, 500 yen ($83) for every day he spent 46 years on death row, the majority of which he received. In a retrial last year, he was found guilty of the 1966 quadruple murder of his former employer and family.

The Shizuoka district court overturned Hakamada’s conviction after his sister and other members of his family had waged a tireless campaign.

He initially admitted guilt to the crime, but during his first trial, he refuted that claim, claiming abuse during the next 20 days of interrogation.

The “World of Fantasy”

According to Hakamada’s legal team, the money is far insufficient to make up for the pain he endured. The death row inmate with the longest tenure in the world spent the majority of his time in isolation.

Hakamada’s mental health suffered greatly as a result of years of detention, according to his attorneys, who described him as “living in a world of fantasy.”

In post-war Japan, Hakamada was the fifth death row inmate to receive a second trial. Exonerations were also the outcome of all four prior cases.