The wife of ousted Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. chairman Carlos Ghosn has urged New York-based Human Rights Watch to draw attention to his 鈥渉arsh treatment鈥� during detention in a Japanese jail, a letter seen by Reuters showed on Sunday.
Japanese authorities have charged Ghosn with under-reporting income and aggravated breach of trust for temporarily transferring personal investment losses to Nissan in 2008.
In a nine-page letter to Kanae Doi, the rights group鈥檚 Japan director, Carole Ghosn asked it to 鈥渟hine a light on the harsh treatment of my husband and the human rights-related inequities inflicted upon him by the Japanese justice system.鈥�
Ghosn was in charge of an alliance that included Nissan Motor, Mitsubishi Motors and France鈥檚 Renault, until his November arrest and removal as chairman of the automakers sent shockwaves through the industry.
The government has denied requests to end his detention, which has run since Nov. 19. Ghosn鈥檚 lawyers have said it would probably take more than six months for his case to come to trial.
Phones went unanswered at Japan鈥檚 Foreign Ministry and the prime minister鈥檚 office as Monday is a public holiday, but Nissan said it was not in a position to comment on the workings of the judicial system, or any decision by the Tokyo prosecutors鈥� office.
Officials of Human Rights Watch could not be reached for comment on the letter, but its Asia director, Brad Adams, said in an editorial on Thursday that Ghosn鈥檚 case 鈥渉as shone a light鈥� on Japan鈥檚 long-overlooked 鈥渉ostage鈥� justice system.
鈥淕hosn has not, and should not, receive preferential treatment,鈥� Adams wrote in the editorial, which appeared in the online edition of 鈥淭he Diplomat.鈥�
鈥淏ut if Japan wants to live up to its reputation as one of the world鈥檚 most advanced democracies, it needs to modernize its criminal justice system,鈥� he added.
鈥淩egardless of the serious allegations against him, or the controversies surrounding his tenure at Nissan, no one should have their rights violated in this way while facing criminal charges.鈥�
Nissan said last Friday it had filed a criminal complaint against Ghosn with Tokyo prosecutors related to the misuse of a 鈥渟ignificant amount of the company鈥檚 funds.鈥�
The former Nissan executive is being held in a 6.97-sq-m unheated cell and being denied daily medication, his wife said in her letter. He has lost 7kg since being detained and eats only rice and barley, she added.
Prosecutors in Japan often try to extract confessions from prisoners in detainment that could last months, Carole Ghosn said in the letter.
鈥淔or hours each day, the prosecutors interrogate him, browbeat him, lecture him and berate him, outside the presence of his attorneys, in an effort to extract a confession,鈥� she said.
鈥淣o one should be forced to endure what my husband faces every day, particularly in a developed nation like Japan, the third largest economy in the world.鈥�
Ghosn said he was 鈥渨rongly accused and unfairly detained based on meritless and unsubstantiated accusations鈥� during a Tokyo court proceeding last week, his first public appearance since his November arrest, at which he seemed noticeably thinner.