Japanese Prison About Its Most Famous Inmate — “Carlos Ghosn? Never Heard Of Him”

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The Japanese justice system is not functioning on the “presumed innocent until proven guilty” principle that is the foundation of western law. Nor does it know the principle that punishment should be administered after the conviction, not before.

As an example, we have the story of what I thought was an innocent action towards a human being who had been one of my heroes for years. I sent him a birthday greeting for his 65th birthday. I was careful not to say anything that could anger the prosecution.

This is the kind of mail that a presumed innocent person, being held by the prosecution to facilitate their investigation of the alleged irregularities or transgressions, should be able to receive.

After a few months, we received mail from Japan. The person to whom we had sent the letter was unknown at the address, our birthday greeting was returned to sender.

What could be the justification for this behavior by the Japanese justice system? I cannot think of any excuse for this. As Carlos Ghosn said: “Confess, and you can see your wife.”

And clearly also: Confess, and you can receive mail. Confess, and the light can be dimmed at night. Confess, and we will stop making your life a hell.

When confronted with such a system, what else can you do but flee?


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Maarten Vinkhuyzen

Grumpy old man. The best thing I did with my life was raising two kids. Only finished primary education, but when you don’t go to school, you have lots of time to read. I switched from accounting to software development and ended my career as system integrator and architect. My 2007 boss got two electric Lotus Elise cars to show policymakers the future direction of energy and transportation. And I have been looking to replace my diesel cars with electric vehicles ever since. At the end of 2019 I succeeded, I replaced my Twingo diesel for a Zoe fully electric.

Maarten Vinkhuyzen has 280 posts and counting. See all posts by Maarten Vinkhuyzen