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联合国人权律师:日本对“汽车教父”戈恩的监禁过于严苛

联合国人权律师:日本对“汽车教父”戈恩的监禁过于严苛

VIVIENNE WALT 2020-11-24
泰勒现在可能更加追悔莫及了

距离雷诺日产前首席执行官卡洛斯·戈恩藏在乐器盒中逃出日本,已经过去了将近一整年。近日,一个联合国律师小组向日本官方发出强烈谴责,称他们无理拘禁戈恩,并将其置于近乎虐待的条件下进行关押。

在做出这一裁决之前,由五名专家组成的工作组就任意拘留问题进行了数月的调查,以确定日本是否违反了其签署的国际条约。

国际律师调查发现,在戈恩案中,日本官方在2018年和2019年对戈恩进行了前后四次逮捕,指控其在近10年中少报了约8800万美元的收入,并将约1600万美元的公司资金用于私人开销。律师们表示,即使以侵犯人权为代价,日本政府也似乎愿意证实这些指控。

这份长达17页的调查报告称,“戈恩在恶劣条件下被长期无理拘留”,日本政府“严重损害”了戈恩为其辩护的权利,并且其几乎没有享受到日本在国际条约中签署的无罪推定原则。

在戈恩受困法律、出走日本的大戏中,调查小组的调查结果显得有些微不足道。毕竟,在日本政府的眼皮子底下逃出生天,这件事本身就足够奇幻,无法逾越。2019年12月戈恩的那场逃亡之前,日本政府还在自我标榜,把逮捕全球知名“汽车教父”吹成所谓的“合法政变”。

但是,戈恩的一名律师对《财富》表示,在戈恩缺席的情况下,专家的调查结果对官司的最终输赢或将至关重要。通过证明戈恩在狱中被迫认罪这一点,律师小组实际上对整个案子提出了质疑。

“这势必会削弱基于日本投资或程序的所有指控,因为其不符合国际条约和人权决议。”戈恩在巴黎的律师弗朗索瓦·齐默雷向《财富》表示,“强迫自证其罪,加上其他违规行为,(日本政府的做法)损害了程序的正确性。”

在贝鲁特流亡

藏在箱子中,在东京搭上私人飞机,飞往黎巴嫩贝鲁特,戈恩的流亡路途可谓“奢华”。之后,他一直住在黎巴嫩首都的豪宅里。此外,他还拥有巴西、法国和黎巴嫩三国的公民身份。相比之下,与戈恩一起被捕的日产汽车高管凯利就没那么幸运了:因其被控在过去几年中隐瞒戈恩的收入,凯利目前正在东京接受审判。如果罪名成立,凯利或将面临最高15年的监禁。

齐默雷并没有参与凯利的案子。他说,11月23日律师小组发布的报告给戈恩带来了深深的宽慰。戈恩感到,日本法律体系带给他的“噩梦”终于得到了肯定。“没有比这更高或更有说服力的认可了,”其在谈到这份报告时表示,“报告的结构合法合理,像是判决书内容一样论证严谨。”来自澳大利亚、拉脱维亚、韩国和赞比亚的律师们建议日本就四次无理拘禁对66岁的戈恩给予赔偿。

作为回应,11月23日,日本外务省在一份声明中表示,该报告“基于局限的信息和有失偏颇的指控”,并称报告中的观点“完全不可接受,且不具有法律约束力”。

事实上,该律师小组没有司法权,其只能对国家是否违反国际规则进行道德检查。但即便如此,齐默雷还是希望这份报告能说服日本,减缓其咄咄逼人的起诉行为。在日本,大约99%的审判最终被定罪。“但日本对联合国相当敏感,(联合国小组的报告)肯定会对其产生影响。”齐默雷说。

这对迈克尔·泰勒和他的儿子彼得来说也是个好消息。他们在日本被指控协助策划戈恩从日本出逃。自5月以来,这对父子一直被关押在波士顿附近的县监狱,等待被引渡到日本。

泰勒曾是美国陆军特种部队出身的私人安保服务供应商,他受雇于一位黎巴嫩联络人,负责将戈恩带出日本。向他的儿子彼得寻求帮助后,他们一起设计了将戈恩从日本当局控制下出逃的方案。

泰勒父子并未否认其在戈恩出逃事件中的角色,但他们表示,根据日本法律,协助戈恩出逃并不构成犯罪——因为戈恩当时正处保释阶段。

“这件事只有一个好处,那就是我救了一个人的命。”上周,狱中的迈克尔·泰勒告诉《华尔街日报》,“我希望我从未牵连此事。”

国际律师们在11月23日的报告中概述了日本严厉的法律体系——泰勒现在可能更加追悔莫及了。(财富中文网)

编译:杨二一

距离雷诺日产前首席执行官卡洛斯·戈恩藏在乐器盒中逃出日本,已经过去了将近一整年。近日,一个联合国律师小组向日本官方发出强烈谴责,称他们无理拘禁戈恩,并将其置于近乎虐待的条件下进行关押。

在做出这一裁决之前,由五名专家组成的工作组就任意拘留问题进行了数月的调查,以确定日本是否违反了其签署的国际条约。

国际律师调查发现,在戈恩案中,日本官方在2018年和2019年对戈恩进行了前后四次逮捕,指控其在近10年中少报了约8800万美元的收入,并将约1600万美元的公司资金用于私人开销。律师们表示,即使以侵犯人权为代价,日本政府也似乎愿意证实这些指控。

这份长达17页的调查报告称,“戈恩在恶劣条件下被长期无理拘留”,日本政府“严重损害”了戈恩为其辩护的权利,并且其几乎没有享受到日本在国际条约中签署的无罪推定原则。

在戈恩受困法律、出走日本的大戏中,调查小组的调查结果显得有些微不足道。毕竟,在日本政府的眼皮子底下逃出生天,这件事本身就足够奇幻,无法逾越。2019年12月戈恩的那场逃亡之前,日本政府还在自我标榜,把逮捕全球知名“汽车教父”吹成所谓的“合法政变”。

但是,戈恩的一名律师对《财富》表示,在戈恩缺席的情况下,专家的调查结果对官司的最终输赢或将至关重要。通过证明戈恩在狱中被迫认罪这一点,律师小组实际上对整个案子提出了质疑。

“这势必会削弱基于日本投资或程序的所有指控,因为其不符合国际条约和人权决议。”戈恩在巴黎的律师弗朗索瓦·齐默雷向《财富》表示,“强迫自证其罪,加上其他违规行为,(日本政府的做法)损害了程序的正确性。”

在贝鲁特流亡

藏在箱子中,在东京搭上私人飞机,飞往黎巴嫩贝鲁特,戈恩的流亡路途可谓“奢华”。之后,他一直住在黎巴嫩首都的豪宅里。此外,他还拥有巴西、法国和黎巴嫩三国的公民身份。相比之下,与戈恩一起被捕的日产汽车高管凯利就没那么幸运了:因其被控在过去几年中隐瞒戈恩的收入,凯利目前正在东京接受审判。如果罪名成立,凯利或将面临最高15年的监禁。

齐默雷并没有参与凯利的案子。他说,11月23日律师小组发布的报告给戈恩带来了深深的宽慰。戈恩感到,日本法律体系带给他的“噩梦”终于得到了肯定。“没有比这更高或更有说服力的认可了,”其在谈到这份报告时表示,“报告的结构合法合理,像是判决书内容一样论证严谨。”来自澳大利亚、拉脱维亚、韩国和赞比亚的律师们建议日本就四次无理拘禁对66岁的戈恩给予赔偿。

作为回应,11月23日,日本外务省在一份声明中表示,该报告“基于局限的信息和有失偏颇的指控”,并称报告中的观点“完全不可接受,且不具有法律约束力”。

事实上,该律师小组没有司法权,其只能对国家是否违反国际规则进行道德检查。但即便如此,齐默雷还是希望这份报告能说服日本,减缓其咄咄逼人的起诉行为。在日本,大约99%的审判最终被定罪。“但日本对联合国相当敏感,(联合国小组的报告)肯定会对其产生影响。”齐默雷说。

这对迈克尔·泰勒和他的儿子彼得来说也是个好消息。他们在日本被指控协助策划戈恩从日本出逃。自5月以来,这对父子一直被关押在波士顿附近的县监狱,等待被引渡到日本。

泰勒曾是美国陆军特种部队出身的私人安保服务供应商,他受雇于一位黎巴嫩联络人,负责将戈恩带出日本。向他的儿子彼得寻求帮助后,他们一起设计了将戈恩从日本当局控制下出逃的方案。

泰勒父子并未否认其在戈恩出逃事件中的角色,但他们表示,根据日本法律,协助戈恩出逃并不构成犯罪——因为戈恩当时正处保释阶段。

“这件事只有一个好处,那就是我救了一个人的命。”上周,狱中的迈克尔·泰勒告诉《华尔街日报》,“我希望我从未牵连此事。”

国际律师们在11月23日的报告中概述了日本严厉的法律体系——泰勒现在可能更加追悔莫及了。(财富中文网)

编译:杨二一

Nearly a year after former Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn made his stunning escape from Japan, smuggled in a musical-instrument box, a panel of lawyers working under the ambit of the United Nations issued a strong rebuke of Japanese officials, saying that they had arrested Ghosn arbitrarily and held him under abusive conditions.

The ruling came after months of investigation by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a group of five experts which tries to determine whether U.N. members have violated international treaties they have signed.

In Ghosn’s case, the lawyers found, Japan most certainly did when they arrested Ghosn four times during 2018 and 2019, accusing him of underreporting about $88 million in earnings over nearly a decade, and using about $16 million in company funds for private spending—charges that Japan seemed willing to prove, even at the cost of violating human rights, according to the international lawyers.

“Mr Ghosn was subjected to unjustifiably prolonged detention in harsh conditions,” the 17-page finding says, adding that Japanese officials “gravely compromised” Ghosn’s right not to incriminate himself, and that he enjoyed little presumption of innocence—principles to which Japan has signed on in international treaties.

In the long-running drama around Ghosn’s legal woes, the panel’s findings seem almost small. After all, it is hard to top Ghosn’s escape in December 2019, under the noses of Japanese officials who had touted their arrest of a world-renowned auto executive as a major legal coup.

Yet one of Ghosn’s lawyers told Fortune on Monday that the experts’ findings could be crucial in ultimately winning his case, which continues in Ghosn’s absence. By showing that Ghosn had been forced to incriminate himself while in jail, the panel of lawyers were in effect throwing the government’s entire case in doubt.

“It will definitely weaken all the parts of the accusation based on the Japanese investments or procedures, because it does not comply with international treaties and human rights decisions,” François Zimeray, Ghosn’s lawyer in Paris, told Fortune. “Forced self-incrimination, plus other violates, effects the validity of the procedures.”

Exiled in Beirut

Hidden in a box, Ghosn was loaded on to private jet in Tokyo and spirited to luxurious exile in Beirut, where he has since holed up in his large mansion in the Lebanese capital; he has Brazilian, French and Lebanese citizenships. Less fortunate by far was Nissan executive Greg Kelly, arrested with Ghosn, who is now on trial in Tokyo, charged with concealing Ghosn’s earnings over several years. If convicted, Kelly could face up to 15 years in prison.

Zimeray—who is not involved in Kelly’s case—says the panel’s report on Monday brought deep relief to Ghosn, who felt a sense of validation about his “nightmare” at the hands of Japan’s legal system. “One could not find higher or more eloquent recognition,” he says of the report. “it is structured legally, and argued as it would have been in a judgment.” The lawyers, from Australia, Latvia, South Korea and Zambia, recommended that Japan compensate Ghosn, 66, for having been arrested four times.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the report was “based on limited information and biased allegations,” and that “the opinion is totally unacceptable, and is not legally binding.”

Indeed, the panel has no judicial power. It exists simply as a form of moral check on whether countries are violating international rules. But even so, Zimeray is hoping that the report might persuade Japan to ease off its aggressive prosecution of cases; about 99% of trials in Japan end in convictions. “The Japanese are quite sensitive to the U.N., and this could definitely have an impact on the country,” Zimeray says.

That would be welcome news for Michael Taylor and his son Peter, who have languished in a county jail near Boston since May, awaiting their extradition to Japan where they are indicted for helping to mastermind Ghosn’s epic flight from Japan.

The older Taylor, a former Green Beret-turned private-security businessman, was hired by a Lebanese contact to get Ghosn out of Japan. He tapped his son Peter for help, and together they devised how to extract the multimillionaire from the grip of Japanese authorities.

The Taylors have not denied their roles in the extraordinary escape, whose details read like a Hollywood thriller. But they say it was not a crime under Japanese law to help Ghosn, since he was out on bail at the time.

“There is only one positive to this, which is that I helped save a man’s life,” Michael Taylor told the Wall Street Journal last week, from jail. “I wish I was never involved.”

With Japan's tough legal system outlined in Monday's report by the international lawyers, Taylor's wish could now be a lot stronger.

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