NON-LIQUET or open trial without evidence

Stormy Friday

A hunger strike carried out by a French man at Sendagaya station ended in a heavy thunderstorm.
Vincent Fichot had demanded a response from both the Japanese and French governments for his wife's abduction of their two young children in 2018.
He went on a hunger strike for nearly 20 days, which resulted in nearly 10 European ambassadors and EU representatives in Japan coming to his aid.
They expressed their solidarity with Mr. Fichot and demanded that the Japanese government impose severe criminal penalties on the child abductors.

Today several EU Ambassadors spoke with Mr Fichot, a French citizen seeking access to his children in Japan, to show European solidarity toward respecting the Convention on the Rights of the Child so that all children can maintain bonds with both parents #EUinJapan @EUAmbJP pic.twitter.com/pRLLjQfhYz

— 駐日欧州連合代表部🇪🇺 (@EUinJapan) July 30, 2021

But this mundane story is, strangely enough, completely unproven.

Mr. Fichot claims that he was accused of domestic violence by his partner, even though he did not commit violence against her.
However, there is no evidence whatsoever to support the facts he claims.
Mr. Fichot and his wife fought in court over the custody of their child, and the Japanese Supreme Court has issued a decision granting custody to his wife.
Thus, the court documents make it clear whether he was violent or not, but he has not disclosed them.
Curiously, the lawyers, journalists, and politicians who support him have never questioned that simple fact.
His words are treated as if they were written in the Bible.
And there is no evidence that journalists, who usually ask pointed questions of politicians, have interviewed the other side of the case, his wife.

Why does he rely on politicians?

There is a prelude to this story.
In July 2020, the EU Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the Japanese government to impose harsh criminal penalties for child abduction and for Japanese courts to promptly return children to Europe.

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the international and domestic parental abduction of EU children in Japan

Mr. Fichot is one of the petitioners of this resolution.
However, he has no right to make such a demand to the government in Paris.
Because he and his wife were married in Japan and are about to get divorced in Japan.
In his case, the governing law is Japan. 
Therefore, Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Convention) is not applicable.

Also, he does not need to use political pressure to meet his children through proper legal procedures in Japan.
It is true that Japan, unlike Europe, does not allow divorced couples to have joint custody. However, in reality, many couples cooperate in raising their children after divorce and it is possible for them to see their children through proper legal procedures.
However, he is reluctant to take advantage of this process.
His suspicious attitude has earned him the distrust of lawers and journalists who seek to protect women from domestic violence in Japan. However, foreign newspapers and news agencies have not reported this fact correctly.

Who's running amok?

To me, this mundane story reminds me of the movie "UME INTIME CONVICTION".

Une intime conviction

In France, it is known as Affaire Suzanne Viguier, but despite scandalous reports, the facts revealed in the trial were quite different.
The investigating authorities, having grasped the fact that the accused was innocent through phone records, ignored them and charged the accused with murder. Despite the outrageous public opinion, one calm lawyer proved the innocence of the accused based on facts.
Likewise, no one can say for sure that the ten wise European diplomats were not run amok by a single assumption.