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00:00There was a smile on Hideko Hakamata's face as she walked out of a Japanese courtroom.
00:06The 91-year-old left beaming after a judge declared her brother, who spent 46 years on
00:12death row, was innocent after it found evidence was fabricated.
00:17Everyone, we won the acquittal.
00:19It's all thanks to your support.
00:21Thank you for such a long time.
00:23Everyone, thank you so much.
00:26Iwao Hakamata was unable to attend Thursday's proceedings due to his ailing health.
00:32In 1968, he was convicted of robbing and killing a company manager and three members of their
00:37family.
00:39While the former boxer was sentenced to death, he wasn't executed due to lengthy appeals.
00:44Capital punishment was upheld in a 1980 ruling, but a turning point in the case came ten years
00:50ago when a retrial was granted and Hakamata was released from prison.
00:57The court clearly said this important evidence had been fabricated, so now prosecutors no
01:02longer have any means to prove the conviction.
01:05The court also said other submitted evidence is not strong enough to prove Mr. Hakamata
01:11was the criminal, so it doesn't hold much meaning.
01:15While Iwao Hakamata initially claimed his innocence, he eventually confessed after what
01:20he would later go on to describe was a brutal police interrogation process where he was
01:25beaten.
01:26The court's decision is likely to renew scrutiny on Japan's criminal justice system, which
01:31has a conviction rate of 99 percent.
01:36There are people who suffer from false accusations as a result of the police hastily trying to
01:40reach a conclusion.
01:41I feel there are many cases in which we cannot really trust police and feel that they've
01:46done a thorough investigation.
01:48Iwao Hakamata's case is among the five retrials granted in Japan in its post-war history.
01:55While the decision is a victory for the 88-year-old, it is also one for his elder sister who has
02:00spent half her life fighting for her brother's release.