The Supreme Court on Dec. 22 sent back to the Tokyo High Court a 1966 quadruple murder case in which Iwao Hakamada, a former professional boxer, was sentenced to death, rejecting the high court’s refusal to reopen the case, it was learned on Dec. 23.

The Tokyo High Court will again examine whether to reopen the case of the 84-year-old Hakamada, who was freed in 2014 after spending 48 years in prison.

Hakamada has been struggling to clear his name over the murder in the central Japanese city of Shizuoka.

The Supreme Court’s petty bench dismissed the credibility of DNA tests conducted on five items of clothing said to have been worn by Hakamada, which his defense lawyers had presented as new proof of his innocence.

But the Supreme Court also concluded the high court should re-examine the case because questions have not been resolved over the color of blood marks left on the clothing items that were found in a soybean tank a year and two months after the murder.

Also, of the five Supreme Court justices who examined the case, two opposed the decision, saying the high court should order a retrial.

Shosei Nitta, secretary general of the Japan Pro Boxing Association and head of the JPBA’s committee to support Hakamada, said, ‘’It was an encouraging decision for the boxing world as a whole. But we are afraid it will be a little bit time-consuming (thinking about Hakamada’s old age). True we have some apprehensions, but there is no denying the fact it is a big step forward.’’

Hakamada, who now lives with his elder sister Hideko in the Shizuoka Prefecture’s Hamamatsu, is suffering from delusion of persecution due apparently to his long detention.

While Hakamada was released from the Tokyo Detention House in 2014 under a district court ruling with the retrial of the case ordered, the Tokyo High Court rejected the reopening of the case in 2018.

Hakamada, who was ranked sixth in the Japanese featherweight during the heyday of the Japanese boxing world, had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court in which he is seeking exoneration. He has not been placed back in detention so far.

According to the police, Hakamada stabbed to death four family members at a soybean paste shop in Shizuoka on June 30, 1966 in an attempt to steal money, and them set fire to the shop after pouring gasoline on the bodies.

While Hakamada, an employee at the shop, confessed to having committed the crime after long police investigations, which is said to have gone on more than 12 hours a day, he later pleaded innocent in court testimony, claiming he made the confession under duress.