Under what’s sometimes called ‘hostage justice,’ defendants not presumed innocent, are held for months
Since his arrest on suspicion of falsifying financial reports, Nissan’s former Chairman Carlos Ghosn has been sitting in a humble cell for more than a month, interrogated day in and day out, without a lawyer present.
His case is drawing attention to the criminal justice system in Japan, where there is no presumption of innocence and the accused can be held for months before trial. The system, sometimes called “hostage justice,” has come under fire from human rights advocates.
When a court denied Tokyo prosecutors’ request to detain Ghosn another 10 days on Dec. 20, it was so unusual that the Japanese media reported he might be released. But such speculation was dashed when prosecutors rearrested him a day later on suspicion of breach of trust, tagging on a new set of allegations centered on Ghosn’s shifting personal investment losses of some 1.8 billion yen ($16 million) to Nissan Motor Co. On Sunday, a court approved prosecutors’ request to detain him through Jan. 1.
Treatment routine
But his plight is routine in Japan. People have signed confessions, even to killings they never committed, just to get out of the ordeal.
A trial could be months away and could drag on even longer. And his chances aren’t good: The conviction rate in Japan is 99 percent.
Those close to Ghosn and his family say he is asserting his innocence. But it is unclear when release may come for Ghosn, who led a two-decade turnaround at Nissan from near-bankruptcy. Tokyo prosecutors consider Ghosn, a Brazilian-born Frenchman of Lebanese ancestry, a flight risk.
‘A proper investigation’
Other nations may have legal systems that are criticized as brutal and unfair. The U. S., for instance, has its share of erroneous convictions, police brutality and dubious plea bargains.
