Bill gets OK from Cabinet to track defendants out on bail with GPS

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet has approved a bill to prevent defendants from attempting to evade the criminal justice system by fleeing to another country, such as Carlos Ghosn’s dramatic escape three years ago.

Ghosn, the former chairman of Nissan Motor Corp., stunned the nation when he smuggled himself out of the country in December 2019 before his trial by stowing away in a musical instrument case sent to Lebanon.

The bill submitted to the ordinary Diet session would revise the law so GPS tracking devices can be attached to individuals out on bail if they pose a flight risk.

Under the proposed revisions, judges would decide if defendants should be ordered to wear the tracking device after hearing from defense attorneys and prosecutors. If a judge orders it, the defendant would be forbidden from entering certain areas, such as airports and harbor facilities.

The court would be notified if a defendant is detected in a forbidden area. It would then notify prosecutors, who would dispatch police to the scene. The defendant’s bail would be immediately revoked and the offender would face a maximum one-year prison sentence for the violation.

The bill would introduce a similar penalty for those who remove the device without reasonable cause.

The bill only calls for notifying authorities when a defendant enters a banned area or removes the device, meaning defendants wearing the tracking device would not be under constant surveillance.

The legislation would also set up a new measure to prevent defendants from jumping bail by fleeing to another location in Japan. Courts would designate an overseer from individuals associated with the defendant to pay a guarantee to the court.

They would then forfeit the sum if the defendant flees and the release order is retracted.

The legislation would introduce new crimes to deal with situations where a defendant leaves their designated residence beyond the set time limit and fails to appear for trial.

Violators would face a maximum prison sentence of two years.

A provision has also been written into the legislation to protect victims of sexual assault. In those cases, the indictment that is sent to the defendant would not contain the name or address of the victim.