Japanese gov't, prosecutors condemn Ghosn's remarks in Lebanon

Japanese race or not, catch them all if they broke the law. That's the way it should be.

I still don't know if he is innocent. Gone is doing something good, because it might chip the wall of collapsed justice here.

In contrary , Japanese hard headed old-fashioned relics do not seem to think that way

he Japanese government and prosecutors on Thursday condemned ousted Nissan Motor Co boss Carlos Ghosn's "one-sided" claims about his escape from Japan at a press conference in Lebanon, saying they "failed to justify his acts."

What else CAN they say? Interesting that this came out in the middle of the night! And it is also a "pot-kettle-black" moment here, as up until now it was them that was doing all the talking!

Mori said she wants Ghosn to openly and squarely seek judgment by a court under "our country's fair criminal justice system" 

She said this with a straight face too!

"failed to justify his acts."

And how about prosecutors where are the evidence of his wrongdoings? For over a year you couldn't get it??

Lame move by office to give this statement before he even finished his conference.

You failed Japan. Now everyone will hear about it.

He should have named some lawbreakers and revealed some secrets o f Nissan and the prosecutors and the police rather than whining about he couldn't see he's family or something.

That would have been more entertaining if he did.

Yeah whatever... Japan losing face. That's all this is about. More and mo

Wait, wait, wait... the J-gov and prosecutors have the temerity to call Ghosn's press conference a 'one sided' affair?

What do they think they've been doing for over a year? Playing Pokemon? Being fair? Telling both sides?

Oh, wait... never mind. Now I remember who's issuing statements.

Just take your loss of face and move on, Japan.

"our country's fair criminal justice system"

That might be the funniest thing on JT this year.

One-sided affair according to Japangov.

Just like has been said already by commentators here. Ghosn claimed he wasn't allowed to say any of this back in Japan, he didn't have a moment of freedom and they denied his legal team to even hear words about what sort of "evidence" they had gathered on him. Yet now when they can't bully him into submission anymore, it is a "one-sided" affair. That's rich.

What hyperbole !! All In defense of their evil selves.

Rarely do arms of the Japanese state get so publicly attacked in Japan and shared in the media. An embarrassing moment for them, but well deserved.

The Japanese government and prosecutors on Thursday condemned ousted Nissan Motor Co boss Carlos Ghosn's "one-sided" claims about his escape from Japan at a press conference in Lebanon, saying they "failed to justify his acts."

one-sided???? Seriously???

Mori said she wants Ghosn to openly and squarely seek judgment by a court under "our country's fair criminal justice system" 

She said this with a straight face too!

Dude, I nearly spit out my morning coffee. The thing is, she probably believes it too!

the government "can never overlook (his attempt to) propagate erroneous facts about the legal system and its management of our country in a bid to justify his acts."

And THAT is what this is really about!!!

They cannot tolerate that someone has accused them, in front of the world, of having a corrupt and medieval justice system!!

Ever since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has sought to prove that they are equal to any other country in the world.

And Ghosn has basically said.... nope, your justice system is still in the dark ages!!

Ever since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has sought to prove that they are equal to any other country in the world.

Japan proves in this case they can be equal to the Chinese Communist Party.

"Our office has developed our factual and legal arguments and disclosed the supporting evidence to Ghosn's defense counsel in order to guarantee a fair and public trial,"

Fair? Is not fair from the beginning. Ghosn said his case will be ended another 5 years whether he is guilty or not. He need to continue his bail lifestyle until that time.

@Kazumichi

“Japanese race”

Japanese is not a race. Japanese of Asian race and members of one human race.

... was not expecting to laugh this much by reading this (nice way to start the day btw, thanks), it,s actually hilarious ... “fair” huh? no matter if he,s guilty of some wrongdoings or not, he,s striking some nice blows into the Japanese criminal justice system (which is far (really far) from perfect), i think we can all agree on that...

"However, by fleeing from Japan, defendant Ghosn flagrantly disregarded Japanese law to avoid the consequences of the crimes he committed."

This statement is very grave and shows how Ghosn was victimized by them.

He basically states that Ghosn is already guilty without yet a sentence.

Extremely disturbing.

The MOJ is infuriated by Mr Ghosn’s criticism?

How dare he criticize such a perfect system!

How dare he seek to put his own points across!

How dare he complain about his unheated cell and 8 hour questioning at random times!

How dare he complain that he was denied access to his wife and lawyer!

How dare he lose hope that he could receive a fair trail before his death!

How dare he not roll over and confess...!

Mori is feeling the heat. This is what her statement is all about. The embarrassing thing is that everyone realizes this is a face-saving operation.

Her job is at stake of course, however there's clearly more at stake than just her job. A tremendous amount of reputational damage has already been dished out on Japan and her coming out like this means they are ready to do anything to make it stop, they cannot withstand this amount of criticism while the whole world is looking.

And also can you imagine what kind of damage her resignation, in the wake of Kawai and Sugawara's resignations, would inflict?

Mori's statement ignores the "numerous voices of dissent that have been raised by criminal defense lawyers in addition to opposition from prosecutors and judges."

(source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/01/05/national/media-national/international-scrutiny-japans-criminal-justice-system-fair/#.XhZifaPPw2w).

This is what Mori and the prosecutors are defending:

"Judges who dare to find people not guilty get punished professionally." (Hiroshi Segi, a former Supreme Court judge, in his book entitled “The Hopeless Court”). So did Ghosn really have a chance at a fair trial in Japan?

Hiroshi Ishikawa, a former prosecutor: “I was taught that foreigners and gang members have no human rights. I was taught that winning is everything. And with the de facto power to detain someone who insists they’re innocent all the way up to their trial, we usually win. However, that doesn’t always mean that justice is served.”

The Japanese “justice” system is geared toward deterrence – by finding 99.4% guilty (whether they did the crime or not), they deter others thru the one-sided publicity. As a ‘good Japanese person’ once accused, you are supposed to admit guilt (done it or not) and let the system and Japan society benefit from your sacrifice. Too bad that Ghosn wasn’t willing to do this.

Japan needs to step up and improve its criminal justice system – add a true presumption of innocence, minimize pre-trial holding, require an attorney be present in all interrogations, video/audio record all questioning, require defense access to all evidence, ensure speedy trials, gag the prosecutor if the accused is gagged, eliminate nonsense restrictions such as on family contact, etc.

our country's fair criminal justice system

Fair in the sense that it is equally unfair to everyone.

our country's fair criminal justice system

It would seem that fairness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

The is a Minister of Justice!!! lol......

At any moment they actually respond precisely to the specific allegations that Ghosn raised and in particular the collusion between the prosecutors, Nissan and some officials of the Japanese government. They call his claims just false and play the victim card as Japanese always do.

Our office has developed our factual and legal arguments and disclosed the supporting evidence to Ghosn's defense counsel in order to guarantee a fair and public trial,"

This is a flat lie and disgraceful in the wake on how Ghosn was treated. Again one can compare how Saikawa was treated in comparison.

Ghosn said his case will be ended another 5 years whether he is guilty or not. He need to continue his bail lifestyle until that time.

No! He was told by his lawyers that he could stay in that restricted bail up to 5 years before even a trial could start. Which is of course a scandal.

Exactly as I expected. One big temper tantrum from the J gov. Grow up!

Present the evidence or shut up.

Ghosn made the right decision.

It does not matter if you are Japanese or otherwise, your chance of a fair trial in Japan is right around -1: substantially less than 0.

Love Japan, love the Japanese, but their idea of justice comes straight out of the samurai days: "off with his ****!", "shoot first, ask questions later."

There is no way I'd hang around for a trial there if I had other options. In nearly every other way, Japan is a wonderfully civilized society, but there is simply no "justice" in their criminal justice system.

99.4% conviction rate my %$#. As Ghosn says, the prosecutors pull the strings in every case, not the judges. How many people have been convicted falsely for giving a forced confession I wonder, that number must be extremely high. They have been trying to break Ghosn for more than a year, of course they are mad.

Mori said she wants Ghosn to openly and squarely seek judgment by a court under "our country's fair criminal justice system" if he hopes to fight the allegations against him.

hahahahaha! Oh I needed a good laugh to start my day! Comedy at its best!

There is NOTHING fair Japan and its "fair justice syssssshahahahahah I can't even say that sentence without laughing!

What about those immigrants who have been sitting in the detention centers for YEARS without a trial date in sight?

Forced confessions after lying to them with the false pretenses of "making things better if you sign this and confess!"

I can go on with this!

our country's fair criminal justice system

What a complete joke!!!

Japan will have to change its hostage justice system. If I were arrested suddenly about something, I would really need a lawyer soon during interrogation and I would want to be out of detention soon if evidences don't make guilt. Today's hostage justice is against human rights.

Reading statements from the prosecution side of this Ghosn case is akin to what the Democrats are doing do President Trump. Where are the FACTS and hiding possible EXCULPATORY evidence. I was so glad CG showed the is wasn't HE did it, it was the company, NISSAN. We saw Saikawa's signature and that is enough to show it wasn't Ghosn alone, it was the company. As for the under reporting of compensation, as Ghosn explained, it wasn't decided, had not been approved and not PAID. Total sham and shame on Nissan and the prosecution. The talk in MSM about merging Renault and Nissan...FALSE. Ghosn wanted to establish a holding company so Renault and Nissan have equal say....Nissan was pissed that the French government has double voting rights and Nissan ZERO. Plus, Nissan was opposed to a planned addition of FCA into the Alliance. Truth was said last night.

I haven't watched all the footage yet but think I have up until the questions started, Ghosn seems to have laid things out pretty well.

The J-system of course looks like the barbaric system it IS!

I haven't been watching TV here to gauge the talking heads, hope, pray they demonstrate some honesty.....

The ministers comments are just plain awful & NO ONE quoted in the article said anything that even remotely resembles the truth in the proceeding up until Ghosn left!

What I found interesting & also downright scary was Ghosn's description of how the prosecutors RAN the courts, bossing the judges around, doesn't surprise me really, it does sound like judges have no spine at all.

I hope the light shines bright for many days to come on this horrible system in place in Japan.

In a way that they're lucky that all of the news of the world is focused on Iran now, much easier to bury the story!

Officially, there is presumption of innocence. But even if the suspect is not guilty, there is an advantage for them to admit to the crime. This is the most evil effect of Japan's hostage justice system.

After the first 23 days of detention, the ordeal is not necessarily over. Prosecutors are permitted to re-arrest a suspect on a slightly different accusation, with approval from the courts. The clock is then reset and another 20 days of interrogation begin.

This is what happened to Carlos Ghosn, twice. In all, he was held in interrogation for 53 days before being formally indicted.

Any Gov't that can't handle a healthy dose of criticism, do what North Korea does; control media, persecute political opponents, form a political oligarchy, and... oh wait, Japan is all that and more! LOL

It is a good time for Japan to change hostage justice. Ghosn may give Japan a good start to change. Hostage justice has not been changed for 100 years. Prosecutors have made many false accusations in the past by hostage justice. Some of them were already executed, but later turned out to be innocent.

I watched the press-conference and followed the Japanese reactions in Twitter. Here I need to say that there is no good one at all in this entire story; both sides did wrongdoings and likely breached the laws.

Watching Ghosn explain himself was a sad view. He sounded and felt like a newbie English teacher who has realized after 6 months in Japan that reality is not like in their favorite anime and leaves in a fit of indignation. To watch an grown up person who supposedly worked 17 years in Japan go like this was embarrassing. Clearly the most obvious message was that Ghosn had never ever tried to understand Japan.

Reading the Japanese reactions on Twitter was sad too. Clearly the local people have not even tried to understand what his point is or why he feels the way he does. It's hardly surprising for a science-mentality country with almost no education in humanities that they are unable to do the most important thing that humanities teach you - to question and doubt. Noteworthy was that the most common accusation on Twitter last night was that Ghosn is "egoist", "thinking only of himself", etc. In a community-based society that is way more of a sin than embezzling.

Here I need to say that there is no good one at all in this entire story; both sides did wrongdoings and likely breached the laws.

First of all, the Japanese justice system is the law, they're being questioned in their fairness and execution of the law, but they can't breach the law, they're not the accused, and no one else at Nissan, in this case, was, except for Mr. Ghosn.

Ghosn's conference is mainly about wanting a chance to a fair trial. To be considered innocent until proven guilty, and was not given the chance to do so. Rather, he was put in a small cell with no windows, and not given a court date or access to his wife's visits, for six months plus, and interrogated up to 8 hours in an attempt for prosecutors to get him to admit something he believe he did not do. That's not justice. I would completely disagree with the assessment he wasn't articulate and clear in his strong statements. I understood him, perfectly fine, and he didn't come off as some English teacher whatever, at all.

He did flee, which goes against Japanese law, but his reasoning made a lot of sense. If you're dealing with injustice, do you just sit and wait for your death? He's a brave guy for not waiting for Godot, and doing something about it.

Is this Communist China? O sorry.... this is Japan 2020.

Mori and Japan need to face the reality the system of justice is not fair. They'll be under scrutiny and should want to change. The Japanese people should be standing up for Ghosn, but likely will not. There's something about the educational system and culture that makes standing up for integrity and the right thing a difficult problem for the Japanese people, who get staunch and stubborn in issues where it would seem obvious an intelligent, caring person would want to rethink things.

Reading statements from the prosecution side of this Ghosn case is akin to what the Democrats are doing do President Trump. Where are the FACTS and hiding possible EXCULPATORY evidence. I was so glad CG showed the is wasn't HE did it, it was the company, NISSAN. We saw Saikawa's signature and that is enough to show it wasn't Ghosn alone, it was the company. As for the under reporting of compensation, as Ghosn explained, it wasn't decided, had not been approved and not PAID. Total sham and shame on Nissan and the prosecution. The talk in MSM about merging Renault and Nissan...FALSE. Ghosn wanted to establish a holding company so Renault and Nissan have equal say....Nissan was pissed that the French government has double voting rights and Nissan ZERO. Plus, Nissan was opposed to a planned addition of FCA into the Alliance. Truth was said last night.

Excellent, Senkan. 100%.

EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE, MORI SAN!!

Japan in Damage Control Mode. That means Ghosn hit 'em hard. Interesting, the are claiming 'one sided' presentation. No it is not one sided. It is two sided because we now have both sides of the story. What the Japanese prosecutors, the police, Nissan and the J- gov have been telling us for well over one year was one sided until Ghosn spoke.

Japanese idiots

They'll never admit the truth.

They have lost their face in front of the whole world and the days and weeks to come will strengthen this disgrace.

Ghosn on 17 years has made much more for Japan than his persecutors will ever do in their life.

Japanese and Chinese are surprisingly alike...:-))

The Japanese government and prosecutors on Thursday condemned ousted Nissan Motor Co boss Carlos Ghosn's "one-sided" claims about his escape from Japan at a press conference in Lebanon, saying they "failed to justify his acts."

Condemned? You have had over two years to state your side of the story, where is it? You will never find it. The only action was a gaijin escaping, not to hide but to finally expose the truth! Shame on you Japan and your 3rd world ridiculous backwards justice system.

Hardly do you see the Justice Minister commenting on individual cases. It doesn't happen. The usual refrain is "sorry we don't comment on individual cases" but she is out there commenting on Gjosn's presser. Ghosn hit the panic button for Japan and the gov machinery is in panic mode right now. Japan is scared to death someone will haul them before the International Court of Justice in The Hague for human right abuses and the use of torture to extract false confessions. That's why they are in damage control mode right now. How come you fare treat an alleged white collar suspect this way? Japan must grow up.

She needs a boyfriend badly!

the government "can never overlook (his attempt to) propagate erroneous facts about the legal system and its management of our country in a bid to justify his acts."

I watched his whole press release and his comments about the Japanese hostage justice system to force people to confess seemed quite true to me. Just the facts he was re-arrested the day before he was to give his first press release and he was interrogated daily with no lawyers present with constant threats of "Confess or things will get worse" show clearly that the Japanese law system is a biased and corrupt system of intimidation. That is not how the law works in a so-called 'democratic' country. Of course the Japanese government and prosecutors are calling his defense erroneous, but they do not have any reason as to why he was detained and isolated for such a long period of time nor why they dragged out his trial. They then turned around and stated that each of the charges against him would be dealt with singularly in trial. This means he could have been held in hostage custody for up to ten years or even more depending on how long the prosecutors deferred each hearing. It is the Japanese prosecutors who should be in jail for perverting the course of justice.

Not so much ‘justice’ as a system of state control on the populace...

Just the facts he was re-arrested the day before he was to give his first press release and he was interrogated daily with no lawyers present with constant threats of "Confess or things will get worse" show clearly that the Japanese law system is a biased and corrupt system of intimidation. That is not how the law works in a so-called 'democratic' country.

They attempt to break him until finally they find away to do it, they brought his wife into investigation. That's completely ridiculous since his wife never involved in any capacity in Nissan. Instead bending his knees Ghosn find a way to solve that.

Whatever Japan is about hostage justice, Ghosn would need the fair trial somewhere (maybe in Holland) that judges him guilty or innocent, otherwise he has to be ever running as a fugitive. If Ghosn becomes innocent about charges against him at the trial, Interpol will revoke all red notices, then Ghosn is really a free man at the time. Anyway Ghosn would have to face the trial somewhere if he doesn't want to be a fugitive forever.

I’d like to see some factual response, not just hyperbole. Show how the system WAS fair, as they claim. Show how indeed Ghosn is wrong about facts, etc. I’d like to see fairness but it’s got to be made public as Ghosn did. I fear it won’t happen as much as I’d like it to be so.

Japanese gov't, prosecutors condemn Ghosn's remarks in Lebanon

Of course they do. They're too proud to admit any wrong doing. And Mori calling the Japanese judicial system fair, is the best laugh I've had this week!

@Phoenixikki

It's hardly surprising for a science-mentality country with almost no education in humanities that they are unable to do the most important thing that humanities teach you - to question and doubt

In contrary lot of people graduated from social science in Japan, even most of Japanese parliament members and bureaucrats they are from social science education background. The problem is how they supposed to think and behave, that's more relevant. Also when social science classes in Japan you unlikely find lively discussion inside class, only sensei giving speech to their students.

Ms Mori looks like Ghosn has deprived her of sleep. Her statements are laughable though

It is rare for a justice minister to publicly speak about individual cases.

...especially just after midnight when they should be in bed.

But way to go admitting that this guy is living rent-free in all your brains, MoJ!

They'll never admit the truth.

They have lost their face in front of the whole world and the days and weeks to come will strengthen this disgrace.

Usually what happen Japan have their official version of truth and will persist insisting that, like Japanese official version of Nanjing or second world war comfort woman.

Japanese justice is an oxymoron

Justice Minister Masako Mori said his illegal departure from Japan "could never be forgiven under the system of any country.”

“Never” shows the archeo ( sorry archipelago )state of prosecution in these parts, which by restriction never reflects on the present system.

Unfortunately other accused foreigners will probably experience draconian surveillance in the future while awaiting trials....ankle bracelets, microchip implants, other high tech controls. One step further would be to require hi tech surveillance of all visiting foreigners as a preventive measure with tech profiling predicting possible future violators. Am going to watch Minority Report now.

Ghosn is a very smart man! He sorta reminds me of the first Rambo movie! He was picked up by the police under false pretenses, treated horribly by the police until he made a run for it back to his familiar domains where he is a king of his domain. Now, he is regaining his strength to tackle his enemies. And just look at how much damage one man did.

He just cracked a hole in the shrouded wall of the Japanese "Justice" System for the whole world to see. And oh boy......what they will see!

I like lady politicians very much but lets be fair, why are u condemning Carlos instead of Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa, Masakazu Toyoda, an independent director at Nissan and a special adviser to the Japanese cabinet; Nissan’s ex-auditor Hidetoshi Imazu; and the car company's former executive vice president Hitoshi Kawaguchi as the above Japanese are the culprits that waste tax payers money , time and caused the downfall of their own company ???.I sold everything abt nissan and i think it is time, U let yr fairness take over , yr unfairness Pls put them all in jail until this case is in order. The world can see U, if u want to be a good politician, pls do not take sides with nationalities, take sides with fairness. No good and fair Japanese citizens will stand for this double standards. The world will not. U want to be a fair politician or not ???.

why are u condemning Carlos instead of Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa, Masakazu Toyoda, an independent director at Nissan and a special adviser to the Japanese cabinet; Nissan’s ex-auditor Hidetoshi Imazu; and the car company's former executive vice president Hitoshi Kawaguchi as the above Japanese are the culprits that waste tax payers money , time and caused the downfall of their own company ?

They just couldn't lost their face since they already sided with Nissan in the beginning.

This double faces issue reflects on what is as well as on is it us