In Japan, a man awaited execution for 50 years on a murder charge.
89-year-old Iwao Hakamata was convicted of killing his boss, the boss’s wife, and two children in 1968, but was acquitted last year after a retrial revealed his innocence.

YEARS OF AWAITING DEATH
Hakamata’s lawyers claimed that the 47-year imprisonment had a detrimental impact on his mental health and demanded the highest possible compensation.
On Monday, a Japanese judge, acknowledging the defendant’s “extremely severe” mental and physical suffering, approved their request.

217 MILLION YEN COMPENSATION
The Japanese government announced it will pay Hakamata 217 million yen (1.45 million dollars) as financial compensation, deemed the largest ever paid in the country’s history.
Hakamata’s case is considered one of Japan’s longest and most famous legal sagas.

ACCUSED OF KILLING FOUR
Hakamata was working in a factory when the corpses of his boss, the boss’s wife, and two children were found during a fire at their home in western Tokyo in 1966. All four had been stabbed to death.
Authorities accused Hakamata of killing the family, setting their house ablaze, and stealing 200,000 yen in cash. Initially denying the charges, he later confessed after enduring beatings and interrogations lasting up to 12 hours a day.
WAITED FOR EXECUTION SINCE 1968
He was sentenced to death in 1968. For years, Hakamata’s lawyers argued that DNA from the victims’ clothes did not match his, suggesting evidence had been planted.