\n<\/p>\n
An 88-year-old man who is the world\u2019s longest-serving death row inmate has been acquitted by a Japanese court.<\/p>\n
Iwao Hakamada, who has been on death row for more than half a century, was found guilty in 1968 of killing his boss, the man\u2019s wife and their two teenage children.<\/p>\n
He was recently granted a retrial amid suspicions that investigators may have planted evidence that led to his conviction for quadruple murder.<\/p>\n
The verdict brings to an end one of Japan’s longest and most famous legal sagas.<\/p>\n
The case has attracted widespread public interest, with some 500 people lining up for seats in the courtroom in Shizuoka on Thursday.<\/p>\n
As the verdict was handed down, Hakamada\u2019s supporters outside the court cheered \u201cbanzai – a Japanese exclamation that means \u201churray\u201d.<\/p>\n
In 2014, Hakamada was released from jail and granted a retrial by a Japanese court, after defence lawyers showed that DNA from blood stains found on clothing alleged to have been worn by the killer did not match his own.<\/p>\n
Since then he has been living under the care of his sister, due to his deteriorated mental state.<\/p>\n
Prolonged legal proceedings meant that it took until last year for that retrial to begin – and until Thursday morning for the courts to declare whether Hakamada would be cleared of the charges, or hanged.<\/p>\n
Hakamada is only the fifth death row inmate to be granted a retrial in the country\u2019s post-war history.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n