The longest-serving death row prisoner in the world who was wrongfully convicted has been awarded $1.4 million.
According to CNN, a Japanese court has awarded the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, who spent more than 40 years on death row until he was acquitted last year, $1.4 million in compensation.
Related: World's oldest person? 119-year-old Brazilian woman seeks Guinness record
The court on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, announced that former professional boxer Iwao Hakamata, who was sentenced to death in 1968 for quadruple murder, will now receive $1.4 million in compensation, which roughly makes $85 for each day for wrongful conviction.
The legal representative of Hakamata, Hideyo Ogawa, noted that it was the “highest amount” of compensation that has ever been handed out for a wrongful conviction in Japan but emphasised that no amount could ever make up for what the 89-year-old has suffered in over four decades.
The lawyer said, “I think the state (government) has made a mistake that cannot be atoned for with 200 million yen.”
Hakamata, who retired from professional boxing in 1961, started working at a soybean processing plant in Shizuoka. Five years later, the police arrested him following the murder of his boss, his boss’ wife and their two children.
The boss of the former boxer, along with his family, was found stabbed to death in their home.
Hakamata initially admitted the charges but later denied all the accusations and alleged police for forcing him to admit the charges by beating and threatening him. He was sentenced to death in 1968 but was acquitted in 2024 after new evidence back in 2014 that led to his release and retrial.
Related: Japan court declares world's longest-serving death row prisoner innocent
