Japanese man acquitted of murders after 45 years on death row

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STORY: A Japanese man who was convicted of murder more than sixty years ago was exonerated on Thursday after a retrial.

A district court cleared 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada of the murders of four people in 1966.

Hakamada spent 45 years on death row following his first conviction.

The former boxer was accused of stabbing his former boss and family and burning down their home.

Though he briefly admitted to the killings, he retracted the confession and said he was innocent during his trial.

He was sentenced to death in 1968, a punishment upheld by Japan's Supreme Court in 1980.

But a court in 2014 ordered his release and retrial, and his attorneys argued that DNA tests on bloodstained clothing said to belong to their client showed the blood was not his.

He's lived with his sister Hideko Hakamada since his release.

The government's top spokesperson declined comment on individual cases, but acknowledged the court's ruling.

Rights group Amnesty International hailed the exoneration as a "pivotal moment for justice" and urged Japan to scrap the death penalty.