GHOSN’S LEGAL TEAM TURNS TO UN AND JAPAN SUPREME COURT AFTER REARREST
▶ Former Nissan chief said to be suffering chronic kidney failure with lawyers set to file appeal to detention group
Carlos Ghosn’s lawyers will seek the intervention of the United Nations in his case and are contesting his rearrest with Japan’s Supreme Court while also calling on the French government to weigh in.
The former Nissan boss’s legal team were due to submit an updated dossier late on Thursday to the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. This would show his rights were violated under international law during his arrest in Japan and that his detention was arbitrary, Jessica Finelle, partner at the Zimeray Finelle law firm in Paris, told The National.
Mr Ghosn’s lawyers on Wednesday appealed against his ongoing detention to Japan’s highest court.
“We want to make clear that our client is not trying to escape justice, he’s trying to demand justice in any way he can get it – at the moment he cannot get it,” Ms Finelle said. The move comes as Mr Ghosn’s Japanese lawyers claim his “illegal” arrest has interrupted his care for chronic kidney failure, which Mr Ghosn suffers from as a result of treatment for high cholesterol, according to documents seen by Reuters.
The documents, prepared by Mr Ghosn’s defence team after he was arrested for the fourth time by prosecutors last week and the details of which had not been previously reported, allege his arrest was designed to halt the defence’s preparation and force a confession.
Tokyo prosecutors declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
“This arrest is illegal,” the defence said in one of the documents, dated April 5, the day after he was rearrested.
Mr Ghosn has high cholesterol and, as a result of treatment, suffers from chronic kidney failure and rhabdomyolysis, the defence said. Rhabdomyolysis is a syndrome where muscle fibres release their contents into the bloodstream.
Interrupting his treatment for the “convenience of prosecutors’ investigation” was “inhuman”, the defence said in the document.
The former chairman of the three-way alliance between Nissan, France’s Renault and Mitsubishi Motors has denied any wrongdoing.
The 10-page dossier the legal team is taking to the UN will call on the body in Geneva to declare his detention arbitrary, to acknowledge serious violations of his right to a fair trial and demand his immediate release, according to his lawyer.
Ms Finelle said that while the UN working group’s decision is non-binding, the lawyers hope an affirmative assessment from the UN may help to convince the judge of violations in the detention process.
“We are confident about the outcome of the UN group because the procedure was full of violations,” she said. “We are optimistic.”
As the lawyers were preparing to meet the UN, Mr Ghosn’s wife Carole was questioned by prosecutors at Tokyo District Court, Kyodo News reported, after she returned to Japan on Wednesday.
“[She] responded in a sincere manner. We believe this will lead to his acquittal,” said Mr Ghosn’s lawyer Junichiro Hironaka, according to Kyodo.
The UN document is an update of a 25-page dossier filed in March before Mr Ghosn, a Brazilian, French and Lebanese citizen was released on bail, mainly detailing the events since his rearrest last Thursday.
The UN appeal could take at least six months after the dossier is filed, Ms Finelle said. During that period, the UN assesses the lawyers’ claims, requests a response from the Japanese authorities who have two months to reply. The defence team can then in turn respond.
A trial for Mr Ghosn is unlikely until the end of the year, according to his lawyers.
Ms Finelle said his legal team is calling on the French authorities to ask their Japanese counterparts to ensure Mr Ghosn gets a fair trial, a presumption of innocence until proven guilty and that his rights are upheld.
“It’s not too late to do something,” she said. “We’re hoping that his situation has now become so shocking in terms of the basic rights violated that they will feel they have to get involved a bit to make sure he’s given the opportunity to exercise his rights.”
Mr Ghosn’s case has sparked harsh international criticism of Japan’s justice system, in which 99 per cent of people charged with crimes are convicted.
“We are worried that his conviction would be automatic,” Ms Finelle said.
“The case is so public and the prosecution is worried about its image, we think they will put extra effort in weakening Mr Ghosn and put him down, which they won’t manage because he’s very strong and determined.”
Mr Ghosn will remain in jail until at least Sunday.
“We don’t know what the prosecutor will take out of his hat again, it’s hard to tell,” she said.
“We’re trying to raise awareness of the outrageous way he’s being treated and we hope it’s going to work.”
Mr Ghosn’s case shed light on Japan’s “hostage justice” system, in which suspects can be held for months after arrest.
During detention, Mr Ghosn has been denied access to a lawyer, forbidden from seeing his family and unable to shower.
His legal team is calling on the French authorities to ask their Japanese counterparts to ensure Ghosn gets a fair trial