In the most dramatic twist in the criminal case since his arrest in November 2018, former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn fled from Japan to Lebanon in late December.
Shortly thereafter, he held a news conference in Lebanon and doubled down on his criticism of his treatment in Japan as constituting "injustice" and "political persecution."
There is much recent commentary on the case, but from the very beginning, there were two diametrically opposing views: (1) Ghosn was a greedy autocrat; and (2) Ghosn was the victim of a coup by Nissan Motor Co. (supported by the Japanese government) to avoid a merger with Renault. The press in Japan has often been critical of Ghosn while the Western media has generally been more receptive to his criticisms. This divergence has continued after his flight to Lebanon.