No immediate prospect of Ghosn's release in Japan

More than a week has passed since the arrest of Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo but there is no immediate indication of when he could be released, as Japanese law stipulates no limit to the length of detention of crime suspects.

Unlike Japanese suspects whom only lawyers can see in principle in most cases, diplomats are allowed access to the 64-year-old non-Japanese at the Tokyo detention center where Ghosn, who has Brazilian, French and Lebanese citizenship, is staying under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

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At the facility located in northeastern Tokyo, a number of death row inmates, including AUM Shinrikyo cult founder Shoko Asahara as well as his key followers, have been hanged.

Asahara, convicted of a series of murders involving his cult, was cremated at a facility on the outskirts of Tokyo but his ashes were returned to the detention center as his family members could not decide what to do with them. It remains unknown where his ashes will go.

On Nov. 20, French Ambassador to Japan Laurent Pic met with Ghosn at the detention center the day after he was arrested by a special squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office for allegedly underreporting his remuneration by around 5 billion yen ($44 million) for five years through the year that ended in March 2015.

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Tokyo District Court prohibited Ghosn on Nov. 21 from meeting anyone other than lawyers, but relevant diplomats are exceptions.

Japanese courts ban suspects or defendants from access to the outside world, except for lawyers, in many cases.

Given calls for more information about Ghosn's situation, Shin Kukimoto, deputy head of the prosecutors' office, said he will meet the press every week, saying, "We recognize this is a serious case that is drawing attention from all over the world." He usually gives a regular press conference once every two weeks.

Joao De Mendonca Lima Neto, Brazilian consul general in Tokyo, also met Ghosn at the facility on Nov. 26. The diplomat gave Ghosn some necessities and magazines as well as talking to him in Portuguese during a meeting that he said lasted for 10 to 20 minutes.

The consul general brought the items to Ghosn at his request made during their previous meeting on Nov. 22, according to the Brazilian diplomat.

Japanese law has a limit of detention of suspects for one arrest warrant, which is 23 days, but authorities can add another charge with a fresh warrant when that duration expires, which means one person could be detained indefinitely if a court approves it.

There is no limit to the number of arrest warrants authorities can serve on one suspect. Japanese police served arrest warrants for one man 10 times in a 2017 murder case in which nine women were found dead at an apartment in Zama, near Tokyo.

(A room at the Tokyo detention center)

Police have to send a suspect to prosecutors within 48 hours after arrest. Prosecutors then have to decide within 24 hours whether to release the suspect or continue with detention for 10 days with court authorization.

Prosecutors can extend the detention for another 10 days before deciding whether to indict the suspect or not.

Prosecutors can also directly arrest a suspect, which was what happened in Ghosn's case.

Ghosn's defense is led by Motonari Otsuru, a veteran prosecutor-turned-lawyer who formerly headed the special squad of the prosecutors' office.

(An exercise yard at the Tokyo detention center)

Indictment means prosecutors have finished gathering evidence and interrogating the suspect, as is necessary for trials. If state prosecutors indict a suspect, his or her status is changed to that of defendant.

Police in some cases serve a second warrant on a defendant on suspicion of another crime, which means the defendant will be kept in custody as a suspect in the second crime.