Photo/Illutration Iwao Hakamada buys a drink from a vending machine in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on March 13. (Pool)

Prosecutors refuse to give a break to an 87-year-old man who spent decades on death row after being convicted of multiple murders based largely on evidence that was “likely fabricated.”

They plan to inform the Shizuoka District Court on July 10 that they intend to prove the guilt of Iwao Hakamada during a retrial that he was finally granted this year, sources said.

Although Hakamada’s acquittal at the retrial is almost certain, the proceedings are expected to be prolonged because prosecutors have rejected the idea that their evidence could have been faked.

The defense team has long been seeking an early acquittal, taking into account Hakamada’s age and health issues.

Hakamada has consistently maintained his innocence in the 1966 killings of four family members in Shizuoka Prefecture.

One of the victims was an executive at a miso production company that Hakamada had worked for.

Hakamada, a former professional boxer, was convicted of the multiple murders in 1968 and spent decades on death row before new evidence led to his release in 2014.

During his long incarceration of not knowing if he would die later each day, Hakamada developed mental illnesses.

His defense team’s attempts to win a retrial was met with resistance by prosecutors.

The Tokyo High Court in March this year finally approved the retrial after the defense showed the results of scientific tests on five pieces of bloodstained clothing that Hakamada was supposedly wearing at the time of the crime.

The bloodstains in the clothes, which were said to have been immersed in a miso tank for more than a year, were reddish in color. But tests by the defense team showed that the stains would turn blackish after such a long time in a miso tank.

The court ruled that there was an “extremely high possibility” the evidence was fabricated.

The court even mentioned the possibility that the clothes “were planted in the tank by a third party after a significant period of time had passed.”

The Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office declined to file a special appeal against the high court’s retrial order, saying it could not find any violation of the Constitution or legal precedents necessary for such a move.

The Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that “clear evidence that would lead to an acquittal” is necessary for a retrial. That evidence appears to have been established at the high court.

However, the prosecutors office was of the strong opinion that it could not accept the court’s decision about the likelihood of fabricated evidence.

As a result, prosecutors are determined to prove Hakamada’s guilt at the retrial, saying his criminality remains unchanged and the fabrication of evidence is inconceivable, the sources said.

Prosecutors met Hakamada’s legal team and representatives of the Shizuoka District Court for the first time on April 10.

During the meeting, prosecutors said they “needed three months until July 10 to decide whether to continue arguing that Hakamada was guilty of the murders,” according to the sources.

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