Ghosn arrest puts focus on Japanese justice
THE shock arrest of former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn has thrown the international spotlight onto Japan’s criminal justice system, where suspects face prolonged detention and interrogation without lawyers present.
Rights groups, lawyers and legal scholars have for years criticised the system, which relies heavily on squeezing out a “confession” from a suspect after lengthy and gruelling questioning.
After securing this confession, prosecutors nearly always secure a conviction at trial, as an admission of guilt usually outweighs all other evidence.
Colin Jones, a professor at Doshisha Law School, wrote recently in The Japan Times daily that the system is often referred to as “hitojichi shiho” or “hostage-based justice system.”
“The ‘hostage’ is t he suspect. The ‘ra nsom’ is t heir confession,” wrote Jones.
But despite international criticism, there is little public appetite for change, as Japan’s ultra-safe streets mean ordinary people have virtually no experience of crime and often view it as an abstract concept.
Authorities too defend the status quo, arguing that the nation’s legal protocols have emerged out of Japan’s unique culture and history and foreigners should mind their own business.
‘Aggressive interrogations’
Ghosn, 64, was arrested on November 19 and the court has granted prosecutors’ requests to hold him until December 10 to decide whether to indict him on charges of under-reporting his salary.
Prosecutors are widely expected to f i le addit iona l charges against t he tycoon and with each charge they can seek to hold him for another 22 days with limited access to his law yers.
Even a f ter t hat, t he hig h-prof i le busi nessma n c a n st i l l be held i n pre-tria l detention.
All this has prompted some criticism abroad, particularly in France, where the high-profile tycoon holds citizenship.
The Japa nese system “creates a n environment which makes it possible for aggressive interrogations and risks producing forced confessions a nd fa lse convictions,” the Japan arm of Amnesty International said.
Hirofumi Uchida, criminal law specialist and professor emeritus at Kyushu University in western Japan, said it was “very hard to gain public empathy” for protecting the rights of criminal suspects.
“We need to bring the system up to pa r wit h i nter nat iona l sta nda rds,” w it h shor ter detent ion s, a l low i ng law yers to be present during ques- tioning and less reliance on confessions in court.
However, prosecutors stress they are working within the existing legal framework, which emerged from the wreckage of World War II, when Japan sought to restore social order via bolstered authority for prosecutors.
In the fevered post-defeat atmosphere, suspects’ human rights were seen as a secondary concern, say experts.
Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office deputy chief prosecutor Shin Kukimoto lashed out at foreign criticism of their work in a recent news conference.
“Each and ever y countr y has it s unique history and tradition and systems. I do not criticise other countries’ systems just because they are different,” said Kukimoto.
“We do not unnecessarily keep people in custody for a long time,” Kukimoto said.