A man who has been on death row for more than four decades has been awarded a retrial for possibility of innocence, what a Japanese court has decided.
Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to death in 1968 for killing his boss at a soybean processing factory, the man's wife and their two children, BBC reported.
Hakamada, now 78, confessed after 20 days of interrogation during which he said he was beaten. He later retracted the confession in court.
The court ruling came after defence produced DNA from blood stain found on clothing alleged to have been of the kiler, what did not match Hakamada's.
“The clothes were not of the defendant,” presiding Judge Hiroaki Muayama said. “It is unjust to detain the defendant further, as the possibility for his innocence has become clear to a respectable degree.”
Japan's judicial system relies largely on confessions from suspects. Activist groups have alleged that confessions are often obtained with the use of force.
