TOKYO (XINHUA) – The Cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday approved legal revisions to enable courts to order the use of GPS trackers to prevent international bail jumping, such as former Nissan Motor Co Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s escape from the country in 2019 while on bail.
Under the proposed revisions, judges would decide if defendants out on bail should be ordered to wear GPS tracking devices after hearing from defence attorneys and prosecutors, while unauthorised removal of such devices as well as entering off-limit areas such as airports and harbour facilities will lead to detention and a sentence of up to a year in jail.
The move comes after a series of cases in which individuals escaped while on bail, including Ghosn who stunned Japan when he smuggled himself out of the country before his trial by stowing away in a musical instrument case sent to Lebanon in 2019. “This is the first time Japan put forward a legal framework for enabling the use of GPS for tracking defendants, and it is important not to allow the system to become muddled,” Justice Minister Ken Saito said.
