Japanese prosecutors hit back at Ghosn's '8 hours of questions' claim

More pathetic damage-control from the MOJ.

"Everything has been recorded and would have been used as evidence for a judgement," Saito said. "In such conditions, if we were extracting confessions by force, it would be visible."

Then show the video.

Details of Ghosn interrogation schedule is reported by his lawyer, Takashi Takano.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/plltakano/archives/65953931.html

His interrogation still continued during weekend, Christmas eve, Christmas day, during new year eve and new year holiday.

There are days he was interrogated even up until eleven to twelve hours.

Ghosn also said during his press release, please check security camera to verified his claim.

If Mr. Ghosn was interrogated for an average of 4 hours a day for 70 days, as the prosecutors claim, that means he was still forced to undertake 280 hours of interrogation without a lawyer present.

The extensive interrogation and inhumane treatment of criminal suspects in Japan is clearly part a system designed to create confessions and not achieve justice for the accused.

People bitch about Japan's Justice system while appealing human rights of a law breaker and extolling the big leach.

You can't call him a law breaker - he wasn't found guilty. In the eyes of Japanese law, he's innocent, remember?

Riddle me this, Prosecutor Saito...

While I call BS on your statements, let's assume for a minute that what you say is true.

You said he was questioned on 70 days. And for an average of 4 hours a day. Right??

So, let's see. 70 days x 4 hours / day = 280 hours of questioning.

So let me get this straight. You needed 280 hours of questioning??? I mean, that is a lot of questioning!!

Are you that incompetent at questioning?

I mean, seriously, you can't get the information you need in less time??

I can only conclude that you were incompetent!

Unless, of course, there is another reason why you questioned Ghosn for that long.....

Hmmm, I wonder what that could be!!

if the JGOV tried to justify itself is because it knows its system is awful, unfair and wrong.

8h or 4h , seems same to me anyway...

the public can not check tapes, so whatever you said...

Sounds like the typical unscrupulous employer a lot of us have had to deal with in Japan who forces you to be in the office for eight hours but then only pays you for four because you had lunch and tea at some point during the day. Splitting hairs really.

Even if we take what the prosecutor is saying at face value, we have an accused facing 130 days of detention, 280 hrs of questioning without lawyers present, evidence not being disclosed to the defense, and the unlimited resources of the state telling someone it’ll only get worse for them unless they confess. All of this occurring without the presumption of innocence. How can these people be proud of what they are doing?

"Mr Ghosn spent 130 days in detention and was questioned in total on 70 of those days. So 60 days without questioning," said Saito. "On average, he was questioned for less than four hours per day."

Questioned on 70 out of the 130 days, "less than four hours per day".

I'm pretty sure the prosecutors found all that questioning quite fruitful.

The credibility of the Ministry of Justice (sic) has most definitely declined due to this case...

Everything has been recorded and would have been used as evidence for a judgement," Saito said. "In such conditions, if we were extracting confessions by force, it would be visible."

I actually believe that they did record the interrogations in a high profile case like this, but it remains a fact that in the vast majority of cases (everything that isn’t going to be tried by a quasi-jury) they don’t record them and they can put as much pressure as they want on a suspect until they confess.

“Mr Ghosn spent 130 days in detention and was questioned in total on 70 of those days. So 60 days without questioning," said Saito. "On average, he was questioned for less than four hours per day."

So in the same sentence that you are telling us you interrogated a guy for 70 days you are also trying to get us to believe that you didn’t interrogate him much? (Face palm)

This would be easily provable if they recorded the entirety if interrogations.

But as far as I know, they don't. Which is why it's a he-said they-said situation. And with the horrendous way Japan treats arrestees, they don't have much credibility when it comes to what they said.

Seeing as the treatment he claims has been claimed by so many others, what he said has more credibility.

He said questioning was halted for meals, visits, showers and to give Ghosn a chance to consult his lawyers -- time he said the tycoon had counted as "interrogation".

They have failed again with lies. They state he had breaks for visitors during the questioning. He was not allowed any visitors and could only communicate with his family through his lawyer. It’s just another load of ‘damage control BS’ from the embarrassed Japanese prosecutors. Ghosn has also stated there are recordings of the extended interrogations. However, I fear they have already been edited or destroyed. How about the threats of, “Confess or things will get worse for you”? They seem to have neglected to mention these in their defense.

The prosecutors are using the Ghosn case to defend themselves, but you don’t have to dig very deeply to find many other victims of 8 hour interrogations and in humane treatment of ‘suspects’ who have not been convicted of any crime.

If they are determined to defend themselves with ‘damage control BS’ they should at least try to make it conclusive and credible.

"Mr Ghosn spent 130 days in detention and was questioned in total on 70 of those days. So 60 days without questioning," said Saito. "On average, he was questioned for less than four hours per day."

Anyone else notice the typical truth twisting here? Less than four hours per day on the days that he was questioned or less than four hours per day averaged across his 130 days of detention? I’m guessing this prosecutor is being intentionally ambiguous for a reason.

If in fact the average he is speaking about is taken from the entire detention, Ghosn would have had an average of 7.4 hrs of interrogations during each of the 70 days that he was questioned... sounds much closer to what both Ghosn and his Japanese lawyer claimed.

This is just mix of words.... Ghosn is saying "UPTO 8 hours".... the prosecutors are saying "AVERAGE 4 hours".... this would 100% include weekends and days where no questioning was done.... this means that some days were clearly 8 hours, some where 2 hours.... an average is the middle....

The prosecutor just confirmed these facts.... do they think people are stupid?

we are not dumb, video and documents can be tampered.

Kafka lives in Japan

It took them this long to respond?

Shady MOJ Math

8 hours / 70 days of questioning X 70 days of questioning = 8 hours/day

8 hours / 130 days of detention X 70 days of questioning = 4.3 hours/day

This is like saying,

“We actually interrogated him for 7 hours and 59 minutes! Your honor he is lying!”

you got the tapes let’s see it!

To clear this up, just ask anyone else who's been locked up in Japan. Please! Do your job journalists! It's not just about Ghosn. If you keep reporting on "hostage justice" you should talk to some of the other hostages!

I've been here since the 1970's have heard and read reports of similar mistreatment of Japanese and foreign detainees and prisoners at the hands of authorities the entire time - it's not just Ghosn he just happens to be the most recent and highest profile and we are in the internet age where news can be instantly disseminated.

Just admit it already. Japanese prosecutors are useless without the confessions. 280 hours of interrogation and nothing? So incompetent.

Japan's Ministry of Justice should change their name to Ministry of Injustice.

They can manipulate and brainwash their local media and be believed.

But they can’t fish the rest of the democratic and civilized world.

They are so lazy to believe that their propaganda will work outside too.

Well,their arguments are robust as a house of cards.

And the more they try to justify their inhuman system the more the international media and press realize how unjust they are.

Again,the propaganda doesn’t work outside their local brainwashed land.

To say Japanese prosecutors have a nearly 100 percent conviction rate is misleading. They have a high rate of conviction simply because they only indict in cases where they’re sure of getting a conviction.

No, 99.4% is correct once you got indicment your convictiion will be 99.4%. Most people they being detained while waiting for trial, while some lucky people can get bail. People who stay in detention they can easily break down so people who make false confession not necessarily guilty.

@vanityofvanities - People bitch about Japan's Justice system while appealing human rights of a law breaker and extolling the big leach.

Do you know what is wrong with the above statement? He is 'accused' of breaking the law. However, it seems that many Japanese are following the way the Japanese injustice system of 'guilty until proven innocent'. That is not how a democratic justice system works. It definitely does not allow for suspects to be incarcerated indefinitely in solitary confinement, interrogated daily without a lawyer present with a goal of forcing a confession. They also do not procrastinate indefinitely for a suspect to get his/her day in court. They also do not create single trials for single 'accusations' thus further dragging the defense of the 'accused' for many years. In this particular case, Ghosn could have been incarcerated for five years or more without any conviction and, if acquitted, he would receive no compensation for the years of his false imprisonment, being slandered through the Japanese media and destroying credibility and career. Perhaps this will help 'some' people understand why Japan's inhumane injustice system is in breach of international human rights standards. But! As we keep hearing, "This is Japan!"

It is not so much the interrogations as much as it is a total lack of rights and ability to defend oneself in a timely manner.

It took them this long to respond?

They shock when they found out what Ghosn said is correct. When Ghosn claim 99.4% conviction rate after you got indicted that's right after that MOJ claim it's only 37% but that uses other way to measure.

When Ghosn claim 8 hours interrogation, they try to find away to make that number smaller. What they do is to make average interrogation lower is by using number of days Ghosn in custody.

i love the obfuscation here. the only thing the prosecutor directly refutes is that questioning never lasted 8 hours. so it was actually 7. and then the prosecutor states that questioning averaged 4 hours. but ghosn never stated he was always questioned for 8 hours.

the prosecutor doesn't refute that there were no lawyers or evidence presented. nor the fact that ghosn was held for over 100 days without any contact from famiy or friends. but hey, let's focus on the fact that questioning "only" averaged four hours.

smh.

70x4 = 280 hours of questioning. Seems a bit exessive, if you are not trying to force out a confession of someone claiming not guilty...

Luckily, since Ghosn decided to sue Renault over his pension claims, it will be found out in court if he is guilty of at least part of the accusations.

Everything the Tokyo district public prosecutors' office says - I call BS. Do they think we're fools?

100% a lie.. if not - show the video, lets see it

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday it was "extremely regrettable".

How they love this phrase

But you still held him hostage. See the forest.

Punishing the innocent is bad, but letting the guilty get away with their crimes is just as bad, OR EVEN WORSE, for regular law-abiding citizens.

For law-abiding citizens it is the exact opposite, because as an innocent person there is the possibility that you will be falsely accused and imprisoned.

Punishing the innocent is bad, but letting the guilty get away with their crimes is just as bad, OR EVEN WORSE, for regular law-abiding citizens.

Wrong.

It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.

-William Blackstone, Commentaries on the laws of England

Similar sentiments have been said by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, among others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone%27s_ratio

I would rather have this than the hostage 'justice' of the Japanese prosecutor's system.

He also said that everything was on tape and would have been available during Ghosn's trial if he had not fled.

Japan must have invented a “shredder” to destroy parts of a tape. “Evidence” ain’t evidence in Japan because they habitually destroy them. Eg. Olympics bribery, cherry blossom scandal, comfort women, etc.

showchinmonoToday  11:10 am JST

For those who presenting weird calculation

You really can't read between the lines, can you. This is what the prosecutor said;

"Mr Ghosn spent 130 days in detention and was questioned in total on 70 of those days. So 60 days without questioning," said Saito. "On average, he was questioned for less than four hours per day."

Four hours PER DAY. Not per questioning day. So the simple calculation is;

130 x 4/ 70 = 7.43 hours per questioning day on average. A simple piece of bureaucratic subterfuge.

More pathetic damage-control from the MOJ.

Good! The more they talk the less credibility they have. They don't have the good sense to shut up, regroup and come up with a proper defense. They're incompetant.

"Everything has been recorded and would have been used as evidence for a judgement," Saito said. "In such conditions, if we were extracting confessions by force, it would be visible."

Really?? How so??

Then show the video.

THIS!! Ghosn has got them on the ropes. What is extremely important is that the international media continues to keep the spotlight on Japan.

How convenient, if Ghosn had gone to trial then of course those interrogation records would have been made for all to see and confirm! But, now that he's gone of course we can't release them to refute his words so just trust us, we're totally telling the truth and we're just storing them in a room surrounded by magnets so that when our hand is forced to release them they'll all unfortunately have been destroyed with no backups.

The fact that they even want to respond to this is an embarrassment. I can't think of another time a country's justice minister decides to get into a public screaming match with someone they're prosecuting. Why in the world do they think this is a good idea?

Alex Einz: "100% a lie.. if not - show the video, lets see it"

For a change we're in total agreement. If Japan is telling the Truth on this, show the video of the interrogations. Oh wait, they Don't allow video in the interrogation rooms. Wonder why. It's a well-known fact Japan engages in this type of behaviour, and that's why the benefit of the doubt goes to Ghosn, while Japan's track record on such issues puts its statements in doubt. Once again, it's also good that Ghosn is bringing Japan's lack of basic human rights for suspects to the international stage. They might actually have to abide by the law themselves for a change.

See sour grapes are still a popular lunch choice for prosecutors.

vanityofvanities: "People bitch about Japan's Justice system while appealing human rights of a law breaker and extolling the big leach."

I'd say lift up a rock and you'll find a Japanese lawmaker or CEO who has not been prosecuted for the same or worse, but they are actually all sitting on top of the rock, and the rock is a huge swath of the nation. Hell, look at most of hte stories Under the crime section and you'll find politicians taking illegal bribes and not even having to give up their seats for it.

@alsace

I don't know which of his languages Ghosn was actually interrogated in. (I sense French is his strongest, but could be wrong ). Regardless, as he doesn't speak Japanese, he may not have been aware if his responses were properly communicated or not. Any misinterpretation may only have come to light if full footage had been released in court.

Ghosn is a highly-successful business leader, and must be a master at negotiation, with all its subtle nuances of language, including manipulative language. If anything, Ghosn ran circles around his interrogators and made them look like frustrated fools during the many many hours he was grilled. He is intelligent enough to also know when to keep his mouth shut.

No one can hide this case anymore. it was a ruthless case , that is why Carlos japanese lawyers quitted.Mr Hatanaka is Japanese. even he cannot tell the truth abt laws in japan. Therefore, there is someone higher up.

@sakurasuki

Thank you for the link. It's a lot more enlightening and believable then the MOJ's finger-pointing and he-said-she-said tactics.

If only there was a lawyer in the room who could validate their claims.

Perhaps. But I get the feeling that another press conference by Ghosn during the Olympics might get something done.

The last thing Japan wants is a negative spotlight during their much-heralded Olympics.

Hahahaha, the key work is "up to".

"I had spent the previous months being interrogated up to eight hours a day without any lawyers present, without an understanding of exactly what I was being accused of, without access to the evidence that justified this travesty against my human rights and dignity,"

We have no reason to doubt this claim! Because everyone knows this is a tactic used by the police to try to break you down to make you confess! So I believe Ghosn and every other person who was in the Japanese police system/prison system over these people trying to hide the cookie crumbs from their face while trying to make others believe they're honest.

Japan will try to do whatever they can to save face, but the truth is all the way out there and the eyes of the world are locked on the system here!

Its time Japan owns to its muck-ups and make some changes!

The article is partially correct, it wasn't 8 hours a day, it averaged out to about 7 hours a day with no lawyer present according to the man's lawyer, the State should just keep it's mouth shut and take its lumps, after all nothing will change anyway and any comments made by the State will only make matters worse. North Korea probably interrogates their prisoners less than Japan. I digress, they only have charges and there was no convictions of anything, it was all obviously a set up to convict no matter what, most of the entire population of the planet can see that if they've followed what's been going on. Everyone can also see that Nissan and the State worked closely together in order to convict Ghosen and there by keep Nissan a Japanese controlled company, and for all intents end the relationship with a foreign entity, summation, it was a Coup.

As I have pointed out that interpretation is illogical when fused with his other lines. You made a hasty assumption and linked two sentences based solely on their placement.

Sorry but you are completely wrong about this. Earlier this month Ghosn lawyer Takano tallied up the hours during the 70 days that Ghosn was interrogated without a lawyer and it came to an average of just over 7 hours each time. The prosecutor is being deliberately ambiguous in his statement to mislead. He's saying it was only 4 hours averaged over the course of Ghosn entire detention of 130 days.

Japanese prosecutors... Whatever they say will not be the truth. They work like the police to convict and move onto the next conviction. Everyone is guilty in their collective eyes.

Seeing as the treatment he claims has been claimed by so many others, what he said has more credibility.

Yeah nah. Still recall you were one of the myriad of individuals that concluded this man was guilty from the get go. This conversion you are displaying is disingenuous.

This is like saying,

“We actually interrogated him for 7 hours and 59 minutes! Your honor he is lying!”

"We were interrogating him for 7 hours and 59 minutes, he was answering for 7 hours and 59 minutes, and there were 7 hours and 59 minutes of dead air between our questions and his answers! We even gave him a 3-minute bathroom break!"

Yeah we believe you

Quite right to hit back. No self respecting Japanese government employee works less than a 12 hour day

Yeah. It's probably close to 12 hours a day and Ghosn was probably given a slower watch, or no watch at all LOL

If the video is released, it will be chopped footage. The video will start with Ghosn already at the table with interrogators around him. The prosecutor will say, "The interrogation for that day started moments before the video started," which will be total BS. Then the video will suddenly stop after a few hours of footage, and the prosecutor will blow out more horse feathers by claiming, "The interrogation for that day ended soon after the video ended." The prosecutor's fraudulent statements will be believed by those that really need to believe them.

I saw an interview with Marc Cavazos (arrested after a house guest had had drugs sent to his address, but ultimately found not guilty) who said he had 6 hour interrogations.

He gave an anecdote about a session when out of frustration, he retorted to one question with a sarcastic 'Yeah, yeah sure'.It was interpreted as 「その通りです。間違いない。」to the glee of the prosecutor. Luckily Cavazos speaks Japanese and noticed the error.

However, he did say that it was thanks to the video footage of his interrogations being available during the trial, that such linguistic inaccuracies could not be used against him and he believes the existence of the video was an important factor in his acquittal.

I don't know which of his languages Ghosn was actually interrogated in. (I sense French is his strongest, but could be wrong ). Regardless, as he doesn't speak Japanese, he may not have been aware if his responses were properly communicated or not. Any misinterpretation may only have come to light if full footage had been released in court.

 " Confess, and things get easier (most probably translated by interpreter this way, no one knows how exactly the prosecutor said it )" Is this forcing confession? None of prosecutors back in your home countries do not suggest this way?

We know because in other cases of miscarriage of justice in Japan, e.g. Sugaya Toshikazu in the Ashikaga case, prosecutors used the same line. It’s quite common in a Japan.

It doesn’t matter if it is said politely or shouted, it us coerced. You’re out on a limb.

Plus Ghosn never said he was forced to make confession, not to mention false confession. All he said was prosecutor(s) told him " Confess, and things get easier (most probably translated by interpreter this way, no one knows how exactly the prosecutor said it )" Is this forcing confession?

Of course there are many way in forcing a confession

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nissan-ghosn-son/japanese-prosecutors-want-ghosn-to-sign-confession-says-son-paper-idUSKCN1OZ0NI

First, "innocent until proven guilty" is for the government, not the common citizenry. It is both inexigible and dangerous. Or are you seriously saying you can see a robber or worse a murderer do his thing in front of you but you are willing and able to pretend in all respects he isn't a criminal because he hasn't been convicted yet?

For a robber that caught in the act or with plenty of evidences that support that claim, is not an issue at all if that robber is being detained. The problem is ordinary people that just being accussed even without evidence they treat them as criminals, like case of Kelly Luce.

If I were in a meeting, took a break, and came back to the meeting - I wouldn’t deduct the break time. Same for lunch.

I'd be curious as to how many people are held more than 8 hours, but never charged with any crime?

How much abuse of process is there in Japan?

Still recall you were one of the myriad of individuals that concluded this man was guilty from the get go. 

Really? You should start questioning your ability to recall then, as you got this one entirely wrong. I have never made the conclusion he’s guilty. Nor innocent for that matter.

@Kazuaki Shimazaki

Kelly Luce had an accuser that superficially had no reason to lie.

No, everyone has a reason to lie. Not only customer but also employee or even owner they have a reason to lie.

https://japantoday.com/category/crime/cafe-owner-detained-over-false-report-about-robbery

The accuser herself is evidence. And speaking reasonably, if a shoplifter was caught before leaving the shop, they'll make the same statement as Kelly - I didn't intend to leave. (Oh really?)

There are obvious case of shoplifter that can be seen even before left the shop, for example putting shopping goods inside bag or pocket instead putting in basket case or their hand but that's not the case of Kelly Luce.

So just having someone accuse you is good enough in Japan to put you in detention, thank you for your confirmation.

People bitch about Japan's Justice system while appealing human rights of a law breaker and extolling the big leach.

People complain about Japans hostage justice, while others complain that Ghosn is a law breaker even though they have no evidence he has broken the law as they get their evidence from the J media all the while Ghosn hasn't even been found guilty of any crimes yet, there fixed that for you

"only"

@Kazuaki ShimazakiToday  01:48 pm JST

The average of four hours per day means for the 70 days

That's not what the prosecutor said:

"Mr Ghosn spent 130 days in detention and was questioned in total on 70 of those days. So 60 days without questioning," said Saito. "On average, he was questioned for less than four hours per day."

Less than four hours per day during his 130 day detention. That's an average of over 7 hours each time he was interrogated. (520 hrs of interrogation in total)

Why do I feel this will end up in a stale mate? If Ghosn has the evidence / proof then I’m waiting to see it. I want to see this boxing match in a neutral ring where world opinion is the judge.

He also said that everything was on tape and would have been available during Ghosn's trial if he had not fled.

"It would have been available"  sounds more like it never happened. With all the high tech savvy at their disposal editing (tampering evidence to say the least) will come easy for Mr. Saito and his law office of incompetents.

@Kazuaki Shimazaki

Fact check: In that case, they used DNA analysis (you can say it is flawed, but that wasn't known at the time).

Fact check in Sugaya's case: he also said about forced confession during his interrogation, when DNA analysis is not available at that time it doesn't mean you can use forced confession in your justice system right?

Imagine if YOU were the victim of a crime who made an arrest. I don't think you'll appreciate it if the police let the suspect go.

and imagine if the suspect is not guilty of the crime and imagine if the suspect is one of your family members would you appreciate that the police keeping them detained indefinitely until they confess for a crime they didn't commit!?

two sides to every story, and it remains a story until there is proof and a declaration by a judge/jury that the suspect is guilty. sending somebody to jail isnt the prosecutors right, its their job to prove beyond reasonable doubt they are guilty of the crime and imprisoning them is justified.

If Japan had Miranda rights and the real right of you have the right to remain silent it would be a lot more fair. They could still hold him but not speak with him except through attorney, and it even wouldn't be a single hour.

I really would like to see CG stand trial of what he's been accused of, but they only fair, clean, transparent way of doing this would be to have the trial on natural ground, with 2-3 independent judges, the the JJP can and should present there case. giving CG the time to present his case. IF he's found guilty at the end, he should return to Japan to serve his sentence, if he's found innocent, he should be let free.

The system sucks, it's tktally biased in favor of the prosecution. A lawyer advised foreigners to run if accused of anything because they will be held for 22days, lose their job and be forced through lengthy interrogation to confess or be deported, either way the person loses eveything

wtfjapanJan. 25 03:56 pm JST

Imagine if YOU were the victim of a crime who made an arrest. I don't think you'll appreciate it if the police let the suspect go.

and imagine if the suspect is not guilty of the crime and imagine if the suspect is one of your family members would you appreciate that the police keeping them detained indefinitely until they confess for a crime they didn't commit!?

Granted. My point is that there are competing interests and objects to defend here. In that case, it is the job of the elected legislators, representing the will of the people, to decide which one takes priority and by how much. So far, Japan's people seems to favor the victims and/or the need for a more thorough investigation. You have to remember that they are "in-bed" and have to live with this decision.

@quercetumToday  08:11 am JST

Fact check: In that case, they used DNA analysis (you can say it is flawed, but that wasn't known at the time).

Bububu4Today  02:48 pm JST

As I have pointed out that interpretation is illogical when fused with his other lines. You made a hasty assumption and linked two sentences based solely on their placement.

0rei0Today  12:16 pm JST

showchinmonoToday  11:10 am JST

For those who presenting weird calculation

You really can't read between the lines, can you. This is what the prosecutor said;

"Mr Ghosn spent 130 days in detention and was questioned in total on 70 of those days. So 60 days without questioning," said Saito. "On average, he was questioned for less than four hours per day."

Four hours PER DAY. Not per questioning day. So the simple calculation is;

130 x 4/ 70 = 7.43 hours per questioning day on average. A simple piece of bureaucratic subterfuge.

You really don't have to read between lines. "Denominator" must be 70 questioning days, IF YOU BELIEVE

AS I SAID " ONLY IF YOU BELIEVE" Deputy Chief Saito saying

"The longest questioning over one day was for around six hours, not continuously, with breaks. It never went as long as seven hours, still less eight," this prosecutor stressed.

The longest on any questioning day never went as log as 7 hours, he claimed.

Wake UP!

Bububu4Today  05:35 pm JST

As I have pointed out that interpretation is illogical when fused with his other lines. You made a hasty assumption and linked two sentences based solely on their placement.

Sorry but you are completely wrong about this. Earlier this month Ghosn lawyer Takano tallied up the hours during the 70 days that Ghosn was interrogated without a lawyer and it came to an average of just over 7 hours each time. The prosecutor is being deliberately ambiguous in his statement to mislead. He's saying it was only 4 hours averaged over the course of Ghosn entire detention of 130 days.

Come on. Takano clearly mentioned in his blog it included hours he's not being interrogated on questioning days like break-time.

Depending on only this report by AFP, you guys gone too much. This Saito mentioned in his press conference

on Jan9, Ghosn met his lawyers for 120 days out of those 130 days average 2 hours per meeting day. And Saito clarified, there was breaks for break, visit, meal, shower.

Like I said, let us all cut all these craps only for bashing for bashing, shall we?

For those who presenting weird calculation

"The longest questioning over one day was for around six hours, not continuously, with breaks. It never went as long as seven hours, still less eight," this prosecutor stressed.

Only if you believe

OK, if you analyze it systematically, you will realize this is what the prosecutor claimed:

1) Only 70 days of questioning.

2) The average of four hours per day means for the 70 days he was interrogated, because he has also said that the longest questioning is for six hours. So if he is trying to massage this average by including the days he wasn't interrogated at all, then it should be 70*6=420/130=3.23 hours/day. He would have said that he was questioned for "a bit more" than three hours a day, or more likely less than 3 hours because he claimed the 6 hours was the longest questioning period.

As for accusations of edited tapes ... etc, at this point they are just that, baseless defamation. Given that it is clear you guys don't have much evidence, I won't feel the least bit sorry if you were charged with criminal defamation. BTW, for those who say that this won't work because the court or judiciary are not legal entity, well chances are it is because a legal entity includes those created with public law, so it keeps its identity even if the people inside are all swapped. The only reason it won't be might be if it is considered a part of a superordinate entity (such as the State), in which case the charge can still be brought.

There is a significant gap between criticism (such as this legal formulation allows a risk of X and X) and defamation (No, he must have lied. He must have edited the tapes).

@sakurasuki Today 09:30 am JST

For a robber that caught in the act or with plenty of evidences that support that claim, is not an issue at all if that robber is being detained. The problem is ordinary people that just being accussed even without evidence they treat them as criminals, like case of Kelly Luce.

Kelly Luce had an accuser that superficially had no reason to lie. The accuser herself is evidence. And speaking reasonably, if a shoplifter was caught before leaving the shop, they'll make the same statement as Kelly - I didn't intend to leave. (Oh really?)

Imagine if YOU were the victim of a crime who made an arrest. I don't think you'll appreciate it if the police let the suspect go.

0rei0Today  12:16 pm JST

showchinmonoToday  11:10 am JST

For those who presenting weird calculation

You really can't read between the lines, can you. This is what the prosecutor said;

"Mr Ghosn spent 130 days in detention and was questioned in total on 70 of those days. So 60 days without questioning," said Saito. "On average, he was questioned for less than four hours per day."

Four hours PER DAY. Not per questioning day. So the simple calculation is;

130 x 4/ 70 = 7.43 hours per questioning day on average. A simple piece of bureaucratic subterfuge.

6( +8 / -2 )

The days they don't interrogate ( don't take him into the room nor ask any question) him were NO question days. The longest questioning was over question days. Get it? And I simply cannot believe these upvotes

although I donot care at all how much I got downvoted.

IF YOU BELIEVE, interrogation process on questioning days are VIDEO recorded. Whether he was accompanied with lawyer(s) or not in the room is minor point . Heck, Ghosn left them all behind after all,

didn't he?

zones2surfToday  07:36 am JST

Riddle me this, Prosecutor Saito...

While I call BS on your statements, let's assume for a minute that what you say is true.

You said he was questioned on 70 days. And for an average of 4 hours a day. Right??

So, let's see. 70 days x 4 hours / day = 280 hours of questioning.

So let me get this straight. You needed 280 hours of questioning??? I mean, that is a lot of questioning!!

Are you that incompetent at questioning?

I mean, seriously, you can't get the information you need in less time??

I can only conclude that you were incompetent!

Unless, of course, there is another reason why you questioned Ghosn for that long.....

Hmmm, I wonder what that could be!!

4 major Charges + misc minor ones through language Translation. How much should it be shortened

in case of competent prosecutors?

@DisillusionedToday 08:38 am JST

Do you know what is wrong with the above statement? He is 'accused' of breaking the law. However, it seems that many Japanese are following the way the Japanese injustice system of 'guilty until proven innocent'.

First, "innocent until proven guilty" is for the government, not the common citizenry. It is both inexigible and dangerous. Or are you seriously saying you can see a robber or worse a murderer do his thing in front of you but you are willing and able to pretend in all respects he isn't a criminal because he hasn't been convicted yet?

Second, even for the government, the reality is that "innocent until proven guilty" is limited. If it is literally and unreservedly true, no one can be held in detention or subject to interrogation, which clearly does not correspond to even the theory in any known country. The reality is closer to "innocent until proven guilty EXCEPT for all these things we allow the police and prosecutors to do under criminal procedure at each stage of the proceedings". For police and prosecutors to not use all the allowable moves to the fullest extent is to not be executing their duties under the law, as much as if they didn't use their equipment in pursuit of their duties.

YubaruToday  07:13 am JST

It took them this long to respond?

This is about Saito's press conference on Jan 9, a day after Ghosn's

To say Japanese prosecutors have a nearly 100 percent conviction rate is misleading. They have a high rate of conviction simply because they only indict in cases where they’re sure of getting a conviction.

Do you know what is wrong with the above statement? He is 'accused' of breaking the law. However, it seems that many Japanese are following the way the Japanese injustice system of 'guilty until proven innocent'. That is not how a democratic justice system works.

Presumption of Innocence is only for the administration of justice and nothing to do with ordinary people think,

otherwise JT comments sections on all other Japan news would not be filled with so much speculative comments . You guys are actually the one who believe MoJ or Tokyo D.P.P.O telling lies= Not Innocent

Let us all cut the craps shall we? Those lawyers, Hironaka, Takano, even Ghosn himself have never complained about non-existence of Video recording (both Visual and Sound) during interrogation process. Plus Ghosn never said he was forced to make confession, not to mention false confession. All he said was prosecutor(s) told him " Confess, and things get easier (most probably translated by interpreter this way, no one knows how exactly the prosecutor said it )" Is this forcing confession? None of prosecutors back in your home countries do not suggest this way?

Human rights do exist also for the victims of criminal offense cases, the one murdered, raped, assaulted, injured, deceived, threatened, insulted. The ones already dead, especially, cannot even talk.

Thank goodness for the Japanese police. This country is the most civilized in the world.

Two points, I find it interesting that "Carlos" claims everything was unfair, but he doesn't even talk about the loss of 10MM in bail money. Why I wonder? Was the 10MM quid pro quo for escape in his eyes? That is how corrupt he appears.

Everyone talks about the innocent going to jail in Japan, and I believe we can all agree that is a horrible thing. But why do foreigners not act with the same amount of indignity when someone guilty gets off without punishment?

Punishing the innocent is bad, but letting the guilty get away with their crimes is just as bad, OR EVEN WORSE, for regular law-abiding citizens.

People bitch about Japan's Justice system while appealing human rights of a law breaker and extolling the big leach.