A man in Japan was awarded record compensation after he was wrongly sentenced to nearly 50 years on death row

A court in Japan has awarded a record 200 million yen (over $1.4 million) in compensation to Iwao Hakamachi, who was wrongly sentenced to nearly 50 years on death row.

This is reported by the Japanese broadcaster NHK and the Kyodo agency.

Iwao Hakamata worked at a miso

paste factory. In 1966, he was found guilty of murdering his boss, his wife, and their two teenage children. During interrogation, Hakamata confessed, but later claimed that the police had threatened and tortured him. Two years later, he was sentenced to the death penalty.

The main piece of evidence against Hakamata was bloodstained clothing found in a miso tank shortly after the bodies were found. For years, Hakamataʼs lawyers argued that DNA recovered from the clothing did not match their clientʼs DNA. The lawyers also suggested that the police may have fabricated the evidence.

But the case was only reviewed in 2014, and as a result, Hakamatu was released from prison while the trial continues. He was acquitted in the fall of 2024, when he was 89 years old.

In January 2025, Hakamataʼs lawyers filed a lawsuit for compensation. Under Japanese law, a convicted person who is acquitted is entitled to compensation of up to 12,500 yen for each day spent in custody. Considering the moral and physical damage Hakamata suffered, he was awarded a maximum compensation of more than $1.4 million. This is probably the highest compensation for criminal prosecution ever paid in Japan.

Hakamata was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the person who spent the longest time on death row awaiting execution.

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