WASHINGTON: Former US Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty on Wednesday criticized Japan’s criminal justice system over a case involving former Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn and his former aide, Greg Kelly.

Hagerty, currently a Republican senator from Tennessee, was speaking at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing of President Joe Biden’s nominee for ambassador to Japan, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Hagerty claimed that there is “injustice” in the treatment of Kelly, a Tennessee citizen, who is still on trial nearly three years after he was “deceived into leaving his home in Tennessee” and arrested in Japan in November 2018.

The senator quoted Japanese experts as saying that Japan’s judicial system has violated Kelly’s human rights.

Hagerty asked Emanuel whether he would “make it a matter of top priority to see that Mr. Kelly’s name is cleared.” In response, Emanuel said he would tackle the matter “as a top priority.”

JIJI Press