A Japanese police chief apologizes to a man acquitted after 50 years on death row

Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese police chief has apologized to Iwao Hakamada for his decades-long suffering because of a wrongful conviction that had kept him on death row decades until last month when he was acquitted in a retrial. The 88-year-old Hakamada, a former boxer, was acquitted in September after a court ruled that police and prosecutors had collaborated to fabricate and plant evidence against him. Shizuoka Prefectural Police chief Takayoshi Tsuda on Monday visited Hakamada at his home and offered an apology in person.