Man acquitted of 1966 murders gets more than ¥217 million compensation

For this country that’s a large amount of compensation, usually it’s a pittance.

No money can bring back what this poor man has lost. Police that indulge in this kind of crime and those who collude with them should serve at least 10 years inside. Too late for that to happen in this case but a deterrent is needed to protect the innocent and to bring the real criminals to justice.

Not enough. Not nearly enough. Fur a ruined life and lives of his family members. Not nearly enough.

Are the police and accomplishes who put this man in prison, in prison themselves?

They need to add at least one zero to that sum.

Great compensation but won't bring his life back. probably it will be donated to help prisoners in similar positions. $1.4 million dollars is not that huge.

I agree with others that this is not enough, but no amount of money will make up for those lost years with his loved ones

He is 89 years old and missed out on all the young age activities… no amount of money would bring him is young life… atleast he has some financial support through this payout to live the remainder of his life peacefully…

I feel bad for him, despite his windfall. The public now knows that an elderly gentleman with known mental deficiencies has received a lot of money. The figure should not have become public knowledge.

"...more than four decades that Iwao Hakamata spent in detention, most of it on death row when each day could have been his last..."

This is the critical point.

47+ years of incarceration is defies imagination, but to be on Death Row for that time with all of the strict conditions and rules is a horror beyond any semblance of humanity.

From wiki -

*"... Those on death row are not classified as prisoners by the Japanese justice system and the facilities in which they are incarcerated are not referred to as prisons. Inmates lack many of the rights afforded to other Japanese prisoners. The nature of the regime they live under is largely up to the director of the detention center, but it is usually* significantly harsher than normal Japanese prisons. Inmates are held in solitary confinement and are forbidden to communicate with their fellows. They are permitted two periods of exercise a week, are not allowed televisions and may only possess three books. Prison visits, both by family members and legal representatives, are infrequent and closely supervised."

￥217 million is pittance.

Is it Hakamada or Hakamata? The confusion over the spelling of his name may explain why the J-cops got the wrong man.

and someone needs to be put in place to prevent him from being scammed.

and that’s no where close to enough money for what they did to him.

Who was guilty of the four murders then? I guess we will never know.

The judge should have stated that it had to be paid before the end of the day or at least within 48 hours. Knowing how Japan works he’ll be lucky to get the money before he dies. That’s before even mentioning that ¥12,500 per day is nowhere near enough.

If you watch the NHK documentary about him, his sister (pictured above) is an angel.

She NEVER GAVE UP ON HIM and always believed in his innocence. The way she took care of him when he was released is very heart-warming.

No amount of money, no matter how big, can compensate him for having lost 47-48 years of his life.

Hakamata had suffered "inhumane interrogations meant to force a statement (confession)" that he later withdrew, the court said at the time.

Decades of detention -- with the threat of execution constantly looming -- took a major toll on Hakamata's mental health, his lawyers have said, describing him as "living in a world of fantasy".

How does a system of justice compensate?

Turn the clock back?

Monetary value accessing. attracting to compensate cruelty, brutality such a system inflicts, certainly will never reverse the horror of such an incrassation.

All the money in the world will never restore the injustice Hakamata has had to endured over decades

TOOOO cheap,

NO court can put a value of a human being FREEDOM especially when behind bars.

So CRUEL.

Who was guilty of the four murders then? I guess we will never know.....Roger Gusain

The comment of the thread

A district court judgement, bless you Shizuoka!

But can we expect an appeal in a few days to the Supreme Court?

That's how it usually works.

This is the reality of the injustice system. Many others have been unjustly incarcerated in similar ways.

My totally unfounded conspiracy theory: a cop killed those four people and Hakamata was the unfortunate fall guy. It's unlikely that the murderer is still alive, but you never know.

I hear about hakamata sequestration in Japan by a Nippon agent while we talk about freedom together.I acknowledge about a risk to be sequester illegally while a single way is to look after a rigth lois.

Does anyone know if this type of award in tax free in Japan?

My brother was a police officer and he would always tell me "there are innocent individuals in jail."

Nothing that we do as humans is perfect by any means and this includes the justice system.

Just my thoughts.

Thank goodness he was not executed. It is a tragedy he was incarcarated to begin with and the money like many have said can and will never be proper compensation for what was taken from him.

proxyToday  11:10 pm JST

Does anyone know if this type of award in tax free in Japan?

In general, money paid under Japan's criminal compensation law is not taxed as income.

How many murders???

"$1.4 million dollars is not that huge."

Is that not huge in Australian dollars or New Zealand dollars?

@OssanAmerica

Thank you for the info. Another question I have is that when he passes away in a few years, will the person who inherits his awarded money have to pay an inheritance tax on it?

Any amount is not enough

Punishment to police and prosecution side is nothing though they even fabricated evidences.

Article says five out of five retrials for death row sentences resulted in exoneration .

Thats one reason for not having death penalty.

How many inmates have been hung over falsified evidence, ?

Civilised countries would have a detailed and penetrating inquiry into the criminal jurisdiction with outside input.

imagine going through what he did?

Must be grateful for not be hanged..

That's it???? Japan has got to stop this 99% conviction rate BS because the corrupt system is landing a lot of innocent people in jail. I really feel for this guy having to spend the majority of his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit. His compensation should be at least 10 times what he got, and the government should go after the police, prosecutor and judge(s) that convicted him.

Surreal!!

at 89, sadly he'll be giving nearly half of it back in inheritance tax before too long. japan is a world leader in that.

john b

at 89, sadly he'll be giving nearly half of it back in inheritance tax before too long. japan is a world leader in that.

Inheritance of ¥217 million tax would be ¥17 million.