Hakamada

In a personal apology, the police chief in Japan expressed his regret to 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who spent 50 years in prison on death row for a crime that was later proven he did not commit.

A court determined that both the police and prosecution had fabricated and planted evidence against the former boxer, forcing him to confess through the use of violence.

The world's longest-serving death row prisoner was acquitted on Thursday, more than half a century after his murder conviction, when a Japanese court ruled that evidence had been fabricated.

Ailing health prevented 88-year-old former boxer Iwao Hakamada from being in the court to learn the outcome of his retrial, which was granted a decade ago after a long campaign by supporters.