Greg Kelly, another hostage of Japanese injustice.

Few of my peers and countrymen have compassion for Carlos Ghosn, Greg Kelly and countless others held hostage by our unjust justice system. Our system, our media, our people, judge these men and women as guilty at their arrest. Guilt before proven innocent. They use the presumption of guilt as an excuse to justify the inhumane practices that our Hostage Justice system exercises.

A few facts -

• In Japan, over 99% of the indictments end-up in conviction. This percentage is calculated by taking the ratio of # guilty convictions and cases tried.
• A special prosecutor uses loopholes in the legal system to detain suspects for an indefinite period. Japan’s criminal code stipulates a maximum 23-day detention before charges need to be brought. However, prosecutors routinely circumvent this by issuing arrest warrants (many times while a suspect is still in jail) for minor crimes. Carlos Ghosn was detained for 108 days via the mechanism of 3 arrest warrants.
• While in detention, suspects are tempted with release in exchange for a guilty plea. Those who don’t comply face 99% conviction and jail time. Most people do the math and comply, pleading guilty while innocent.
• Defense attorneys are not allowed to counsel their clients during interrogations.
• Prosecutors can delay a trial at their discretion for as long as they choose. They will usually use this tactic as a pressure mechanism

Carlos Ghosn was detained for 108 days after his late 2018 arrest. He endured solitary confinement. He endured repeated interrogations without legal counsel present. He endured trial delay and trial date uncertainty. And most of all he endured in the knowledge that 99% of cases end in conviction. He could have taken the easy way out and pleaded guilty in exchange for release.

Greg Kelly, a former Nissan executive arrested with Ghosn, has also been a hostage of the Japanese legal system. At this point in time, he has no visibility as to when his trial will take place and has little support from the Japanese, US, or broader international communities. Kevin Kelly, his son, said “My father’s trial date has been pushed back for the 3rd time and is now not going to start until this summer, almost 18 months after my father’s arrest. Once the trial begins, they will only hold court 4–6 days per month meaning that my father will return from Japan by fall 2021 at the earliest.”

Greg Kelly was arrested under the same deferred compensation charges as Ghosn. The guilty-before-proven-innocent Mr. Kelly has since 2018 endured both a month in Japanese detention and also constant uncertainty surrounding his trial date. He lives in a small apartment in central Tokyo and it looks to remain that way for at least another year. Being less famous than Ghosn, he seems to have less media attention and less support from the international community.

To me, its confusing that the US isn’t publicly calling out Japan for their treatment of Mr. Kelly, held hostage in his little central Tokyo apartment with no concrete visibility as to when he’ll see a trial and no certainty of a fair trial.