Hitojichi shihō
Hitojichi shihō (Japanese: 人質 司法, literally "hostage justice" or "justice through hostage-taking") is a term used to criticize a certain Japanese law enforcement practice. This word critics describe the Japanese judicial system, the strategy of law enforcement officers, suspects like a hostage in custody to keep to extort a confession. Without this “ransom”, a release on bail would hardly be possible before the trial.
Description of the system
The Japanese Code of Criminal Procedure allows a suspect to be detained for 23 days without formal charge and denied the option of bail . While z. For example, in Great Britain only terror suspects can be detained for a maximum of 14 days without charge (and this is controversial there), pre- trial detention in Japan lasts a maximum of 23 days. During his research stay in Germany, the Japanese lawyer Kazuo Inaba was therefore "astonished at the length of the pre-trial detention here."
However, the actual length of detention in Japan can be significantly longer than 23 days, as this period is extended each time new allegations are made against the suspect. According to the criticism, the public prosecutor and the police have perfected the habit of deliberately splitting up allegations against the suspect so that the detention can be extended indefinitely, sometimes simply by reformulating an earlier allegation (for example, a murder suspect may initially "Dead body" and later accused of murder , which starts a new period of 23 days). This happened twice to Carlos Ghosn , who had been detained and interrogated for a total of 53 days before being charged. By some considered even more serious, does not allow the Japanese Code of Criminal Procedure that in the interrogations of the legal counsel of the accused are present. These interrogations can last up to twelve hours a day for weeks.
Even after that first period of detention before filing a lawsuit, suspects who have not “confessed” find it very difficult to convince a judge to release them on bail. Under these circumstances, after months of imprisonment under sometimes very harsh conditions, there is a temptation that suspects held as “hostage” would confess at least some of the allegations against them.
The BBC analyzed the escape of Carlos Ghosn in December 2019 as a result of the Japanese "hostage justice". In fact, in Japan, 89% of all convictions are obtained in whole or in part on the basis of the accused's confessions, so it is important to keep them in prison until they are confessed. Proponents of the system deny that the confessions are the cause of the very high rate of convictions of over 99% (compared to the USA: 68% in 2018). The Japanese Justice Minister denied the Ghosn case that the judiciary was appropriate.
The BBC cited a former prosecutor as saying that prosecutors could independently bring or drop charges without review by the courts. In addition, in most of the main proceedings, the courts followed the prosecution's request. The extremely strong position of the public prosecutor's offices is underlined by the fact that the general public prosecutor and several other top public prosecutors are still above the deputy minister of justice as the formal highest representative of the ministry of justice. In April 2019, Human Rights Watch issued a call from 1,010 Japanese lawyers and professionals to end the "hostage justice" system.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Human Rights Watch: Call to Eliminate Japan's "Hostage Justice" System by Japanese Legal Professionals Signed by 1,010 professionals , April 10, 2019
- ↑ Patrick Welter: Japan's judiciary knows no mercy, even from bosses Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 19, 2019
- ↑ Japan's "hostage justice" comes to the test - derStandard.de. Accessed February 1, 2020 (Austrian German).
- ↑ Human rights criticism of Japan's judiciary: “Hostage justice” on trial taz , April 2, 2019
- ↑ a b c d e f BBC News: Carlos Ghosn and Japan's 'hostage justice' system , by Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, December 31, 2019
- ↑ a b c Brad Adams in The Diplomat: Japans hostage justice system , by Brad Adams, January 10, 2019
- ↑ a b CNN: The Carlos Ghosn case is putting Japan's system of 'hostage justice' under scrutiny , by Will Ripley from January 21, 2019
- ^ Kazuo Inaba: Criminal Trial and Public Prosecutor's Office in Japan . In: Journal of Japanese Law . tape 3 , no. 5 , April 2, 1998, ISSN 2366-7117 , p. 138 ( zjapanr.de [accessed January 13, 2020]).
- ↑ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Japan rejects allegations of the ex-car manager Ghosn | DW | 01/09/2020. Accessed February 1, 2020 (German).