Japanese court acquits longest-serving death row prisoner

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00:00There was a smile on Hideko Hakamata's face as she walked out of a Japanese courtroom.

00:06The 91-year-old left beaming after a judge declared her brother, who spent 46 years on

00:12death row, was innocent after it found evidence was fabricated.

00:17Everyone, we won the acquittal.

00:19It's all thanks to your support.

00:21Thank you for such a long time.

00:23Everyone, thank you so much.

00:26Iwao Hakamata was unable to attend Thursday's proceedings due to his ailing health.

00:32In 1968, he was convicted of robbing and killing a company manager and three members of their

00:37family.

00:39While the former boxer was sentenced to death, he wasn't executed due to lengthy appeals.

00:44Capital punishment was upheld in a 1980 ruling, but a turning point in the case came ten years

00:50ago when a retrial was granted and Hakamata was released from prison.

00:57The court clearly said this important evidence had been fabricated, so now prosecutors no

01:02longer have any means to prove the conviction.

01:05The court also said other submitted evidence is not strong enough to prove Mr. Hakamata

01:11was the criminal, so it doesn't hold much meaning.

01:15While Iwao Hakamata initially claimed his innocence, he eventually confessed after what

01:20he would later go on to describe was a brutal police interrogation process where he was

01:25beaten.

01:26The court's decision is likely to renew scrutiny on Japan's criminal justice system, which

01:31has a conviction rate of 99 percent.

01:36There are people who suffer from false accusations as a result of the police hastily trying to

01:40reach a conclusion.

01:41I feel there are many cases in which we cannot really trust police and feel that they've

01:46done a thorough investigation.

01:48Iwao Hakamata's case is among the five retrials granted in Japan in its post-war history.

01:55While the decision is a victory for the 88-year-old, it is also one for his elder sister who has

02:00spent half her life fighting for her brother's release.

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