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Hostage justice (Japanese: 人質司法, Hitojichi shihō) is a Japanese-language phrase used in criticizing the Japanese judiciary. It refers to the period during which a defendant is held while denying an accusation, which is long compared with cases in which a defendant does not deny an accusation in Japanese criminal action procedure. Hostage justice is a system used by police and prosecutors to obtain confessions, regardless of whether the suspect is guilty or not guilty of a crime. Suspects can be held indefinitely under interrogation without charges. False confessions are common under these conditions, which leads to wrongful convictions for the falsely accused. Convictions can include life imprisonment and death.
The Asian Journal of Criminology (2022)[1] describes 4 main problems in Japan's justice system that systematically mistreat criminal suspects. First being criminal "duty to receive interrogation (Japanese: torishirabe o junin gimu). Here, criminal suspects have the right to remain silent (mokuhiken) yet they are still obligated to endure interrogation- despite its methods. According to study by Takano (2021),[2] criminal interrogation embodying the practice of high frequency, protracted or undesired acts create the fundamental problem with Hostage Justice as it results in long and unpleasant interrogation against the will of the criminal suspect. Second being restriction between suspect and individual who is not a defense lawyer. Third, police are often given the power to place suspects in detention for “dubious and pretextual purposes”. Fourth being having a “substitute imprisonment” (daiyo kangoku) system where prosecutors often detain suspects in police holding cells (ryuchijo) instead of official detention centers (kochisho) (Croydon 2016[3]). This makes police interrogation more accessible yet it is also known as the “hotbed of false confessions”(Igarashi, 1984).[4] All problems point to similar outcomes where criminal suspects give involuntary testimony-affirmation of charges, against their will.
Japan Times[5] reported the case of Masaaki Okawara, who along with others was accused of illegally exporting spray dryers. In March 2020, Masaaki Okawara, Junji Shimada, and Shizuo Aishima were arrested despite their demonstration of the safety of products to the police. At time of detention, they exercised their right to remain silent, and consequently faced poor treatment by the prosecutors. Ashimia's bail requests were denied numerous times on the basis of potential conspiracy with other employees. This led to his medical needs not being addressed, and he died of stomach cancer in February 2021. In the same time, Okawara and Shimade were held in detention for 332 days. In February 2021, Okawara and Shimada bail requests were finally approved; due to a lack of evidence, charges were dropped before the start of trial in August of the same year. In Okawara times of detention, he felt like he was treated as a guilty criminal. Okawara said "I was treated as if I was a slave. With days like these that drained me physically and mentally, I sometimes wondered if it might have been a good idea to admit guilt in order to get out early". This case stands out in Japan, as the conviction rate of prosecutors exceeds 99% of indicted cases. The case sparked attention as charges were rarely dropped after an indictment.
In December 2023, The Tokyo District Court ruled that the arrests of Okawara, Shimada, and Aishima had been unlawful, and the indictments against them between March and June 2020 were illegal. The court ordered Tokyo metropolitan government and the Japanese government to pay Okawara, Shimada, and the family of Aishima 160 million yen (US$1.1 million) in compensation. Okawara responded to the ruling, suggesting that the court ruling was fair. He added that he hoped Tokyo police and prosecutors would apologize to the Yokohama-based machinery maker.[6]
BBC[7] reported that Carlos Ghosn's, former chairman of Nissan who was arrested for understating his annual salary and misusing company funds in November 2018. Upon his denial, he fled to Japan and immediately got arrested at the Tokyo airport. He was transported to the Tokyo Detention Centre where he was given prison clothes and confined to a cell. Ghosn was also restricted from having any contact with his wife, Carole Ghosn.. “For hours each day, the prosecutors interrogate him, browbeat him, lecture him and berated him, outside the presence of his attorney, in an effort to extract a confession” Said Carole Ghosn (Guardian 2019).[8]Le Figaro reported that Carlos Ghosn's French lawyers described his continued Japanese detention in a complaint filed with the UNHCR as "hostage justice".[9]CNN quoted Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University's Japan campus, stating "That system of hostage justice, I think, does not bear scrutiny."[10]
