Japan’s Diet passes bill to put GPS trackers on people on bail

Tokyo: In a move to prevent defendants on bail from fleeing the country, Japan’s House of Representatives ‘Diet’ passed Thursday a bill to enable the use of ‘Global Positioning System’ (GPS) monitoring devices to track their location and prevent any attempt by indicted people to leave the country.

The bill to revise the Criminal Procedure Code was approved at a plenary meeting of the Lower House and was then sent to the House of Councillors and is expected to be enacted during the ongoing ordinary session of the Diet.

With the revised law coming into effect, courts can order defendants to wear GPS devices before they are released on bail. The bill was tabled considering a similar case in which former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn escaped from Japan in 2019 while on bail.

As per the bill, unauthorized removal of the GPS tagging device as well as entering areas such as specific airports and ports selected by the court will lead to detention and a sentence of up to a year in jail.

There will also be penalties for failing to appear for trial and leaving a designated place of residence beyond the assigned period without permission. Both violations carry a custodial sentence of up to two years.

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