Ex-judge Fights Japan's 'Unopenable Door' Retrial System

Source: International Business Times

This photo taken in September 2024 shows Iwao Hakamada (L) speaking as his sister Hideko holds the microphone AFP The world's longest-serving death row prisoner, Iwao Hakamada, won compensation from Japan this week after almost five decades in jail -- and he owes his freedom to a judge with steely determination. The former boxer, now 89, was exonerated last year of a 1966 quadruple murder after a tireless campaign by his sister and others. But he might still be behind bars if not for Hiroaki Murayama, the judge who in 2014 dared do something extremely rare in Japan's often intractable legal system: he ordered a retrial.