Japanese prosecutors announced on October 8 that they will not appeal the acquittal ruling in the retrial of Hakamada Iwao, who was convicted of murder 58 years ago.  

Hakamada was sentenced to death for the murder of a family of four in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1966, but the Shizuoka District Court acquitted him last month on the grounds that the evidence was falsified.  

The prosecutors were considering if they would appeal the ruling, but on October 8 the Prosecutor General said in a statement they would not go forward with an appeal.  

The statement said that no concrete evidence was presented and that prosecutors are strongly dissatisfied with the ruling that investigators had fabricated evidence.  

The Prosecutor General had also said during the retrial that Hakamada was in an unstable legal situation for a long time as judicial decisions were made at different times.  

He also apologized for the situation, said that as a prosecutor who plays a role in criminal justice, he was sorry for the situation.  

On October 9, 88-year-old Hakamada was officially exonerated, making him the world’s longest-serving former death row inmate.