The Japan Pro Boxing Association’s committee to support former professional boxer Iwao Hakamada, 84, who was convicted in a 1966 quadruple murder case, is seeking further support by stepping up a crowd-funding campaign, according to committee sources.

The sources said the committee and supporting groups collected a total of 12,266,000 yen (some 115,700 dollars) as of Sept. 8 via the campaign initially launched on Aug. 18 and are seeking the further support as the campaign will end on Oct. 16. The donations collected will be used to cover expenses incurred in defending Hakamada.

They hope to gather 20 million yen by the end of the campaign since Japan Federation of Bar Associations is throwing its support behind him.

Although Hakamada was released from the Tokyo Detention House in 2014 under a district court ruling following a 48-year detention with the retrial of the case ordered, the Tokyo High Court rejected the reopening of the case in 2018.

Hakamada, who now lives in Shimizu in the central Japanese prefecture of Shizuoka with his elder sister Hideko, has not been placed back in detention so far, with the high court saying that considering his age and health condition, he is unlikely to flee.

Hakamada, who was a former featherweight fighter, had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court in which he is seeking exoneration.

https://readyfor.jp/projects/free-iwao