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Agence France-Presse

An Istanbul court on Wednesday sentenced three Turks to four years and two months in prison for helping smuggle former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn in a musical instrument case to Lebanon from Japan.
The court convicted two pilots and an employee of a small private airline, who moved the tycoon while he was out on bail facing financial misconduct charges in December 2019.
The sentence was lighter than the maximum 12 years the pilots – Noyan Pasin and Bahri Kutlu Somek – and MNG Jet’s Okan Kosemen faced after being charged last month with involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle a migrant.
The presiding judge convicted them of “illegally smuggling foreign national Carlos Ghosn … by using a cargo plane”.
Seven people to stand trial over ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn’s escape
The court also ordered the three to each pay a 31,240 lira (US$4,330) fine.
The pilots told the court on Wednesday that they were innocent because they never suspected the high-profile Japanese carmaker’s boss was on board their plane. “They ask us to fly the plane and that is what we do,” Pasin said.
The three will stay out of prison pending an appeal. The court also acquitted two other pilots and two flight attendants standing trial in the Turkish case.
Interpol issued a notice last year seeking Ghosn’s extradition from Lebanon to Japan. The two countries have no extradition agreement and Lebanon has failed to comply. Ghosn, who denies any wrongdoing, has remained effectively trapped in Lebanon due to the Interpol arrest warrant.
The Turkish trial tried to piece together how Ghosn – a French-Lebanese-Brazilian national who was a global business superstar when his career came crashing to an end – managed to find his way from Japan to Lebanon via Istanbul.

The 66-year-old was arrested in November 2018 and spent 130 days in prison before completing a cinematic escape act that humiliated Japanese justice officials and raised questions about who was involved.
The indictment said the plot involved a stopover in Istanbul instead of a direct flight “so as not to arouse suspicions”.
Michael Taylor, a former member of the US Special Forces, and his son Peter are accused together with Lebanese national George-Antoine Zayek of recruiting MNG Jet and overseeing the secret operation.
US men who helped Carlos Ghosn flee Japan lose extradition appeal
The two Americans lost their appeal to get their extradition to Japan blocked by the US Supreme Court earlier this month.
The indictment said Taylor and Zayek put Ghosn “in a large musical instrument case” and then took him through security at Japan’s Osaka airport.
The plane landed at Istanbul’s old Ataturk airport and parked near another plane bound for Beirut. The court found that MNG Jet’s Kosemen then jumped off the Osaka plane and boarded the one destined for Beirut together with Ghosn.

The two pilots who were acquitted completed the Turkey to Lebanon leg of the journey.
MNG Jet’s Kosemen denied knowing that he was helping Ghosn flee prosecution in Japan.
“It’s unfortunate I was involved in this affair. This is not something I did deliberately,” Kosemen said.
Pasin said he was surprised by the sentence because he felt that he was simply doing his job. “I wasn’t expecting this verdict,” the pilot said. “There is no concrete evidence that what I did constitutes a crime.”
Defiant ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn hits back against Japanese ‘plot’
The Turkish trial was running in parallel with a handful of hearings in Japan and the Taylors’ case in the United States.
Nissan and its former bosses are accused in Tokyo of illegally concealing payments of 9.2 billion yen (US$87 million at today’s rates) promised to Ghosn on retirement.
Ghosn’s former aide Greg Kelly faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted over the alleged payments.


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Turkey

Carlos Ghosn escape: Turkey sentences pilots, airline official for role in smuggling him from Japan

Turkish pilot Noyan Pasin speaks to media after he and two others received jail sentences for their role in helping smuggle former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn to Lebanon. Photo: AFP

A man walks past the entrance to Istanbul's court Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, where the case of a Turkish private airline official and two pilots over their involvement in former Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn's dramatic escape out of Japan in 2019 and to Beirut, Lebanon, was held. The court convicted a Turkish private airline official and two pilots and sentenced them each to four years and two months in prison .Ghosn, who was arrested over financial misconduct allegations in Tokyo in 2018, skipped bail while awaiting trial there. (AP Photo/Mehmet Guzel)

FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2020, file photo, former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn holds a press conference at the Maronite Christian Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, as he launches an initiative to help Lebanon that is undergoing a severe economic and financial crisis, in Kaslik, north of Beirut, Lebanon. Former Nissan Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa told a Japanese court Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, he believed the compensation for his predecessor Carlos Ghosn was too low “by international standards,” and so he supported Ghosn’s retirement packages to prevent him from leaving. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

Japan slams UN panel report saying Carlos Ghosn’s arrest and detention violated rights

Ex-Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn is accused of financial misdeeds. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2020, file photo, former Nissan Motor Co. executive Greg Kelly arrives for the first trial hearing at the Tokyo District Court in Tokyo. The defense for Kelly began its cross-examination Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, asserting innocence, in a Japanese criminal trial over the alleged under-reporting of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s pay. (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Former Carlos Ghosn aide Greg Kelly pleads not guilty as trial opens in Japan

Former Nissan executive Greg Kelly arrives for the first hearing in his financial misconduct trial at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday. Photo: AP

(FILES) This file picture taken on February 6, 2020 shows former Nissan executive Greg Kelly, who is charged with financial misconduct, speaking during an interview with AFP at his apartment in Tokyo. - The lengthy saga involving ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn takes a new turn, when the auto titan-turned-fugitive's former assistant Greg Kelly goes on trial in Tokyo on September 15, 2020. (Photo by Behrouz MEHRI / AFP) / TO GO WITH Japan-automobile-trial-Nissan-Ghosn,ADVANCER by Etienne BALMER

A pedestrian walks past the Tokyo District Court building in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. Almost two years after arriving in Japan for what he thought would be a quick two-day business trip, former Nissan Motor Co. director Greg Kelly faces a trial in Tokyo scheduled to last 10 months, but which could land him in jail for as long as a decade if convicted. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg

FILE - In this Friday, April 20, 2018, file photo, Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn speaks during an interview in Hong Kong. The criminal trial against Japanese automaker Nissan and its former executive Greg Kelly will open in Tokyo District Court on Sept. 15. It’s the latest chapter in the unfolding scandal of Carlos Ghosn, a superstar at Nissan Motor Co. until he and Kelly were arrested in late 2018. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

US approves extradition of Carlos Ghosn’s accused escape plotters to Japan

Carlos Ghosn, then the chairman of Nissan, speaks during an interview in Hong Kong in 2018. Photo: AP

Michael Taylor, who was implicated in enabling the dramatic escape of former Nissan Motor Co boss Carlos Ghosn, is seen in a booking photograph from October 24, 2012 on unrelated charges and released by the Davis County Sherriff's office. Davis County Sherriff's office/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.

Turkey jails over 300 pilots, civilians for life over failed 2016 coup

A Turkish soldier patrols next to the entrance of the Sincan Penal Institution near Ankara, as a court handed down verdicts in one of the main trials stemming from the bloody 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: AFP

Police officers, wearing face masks to curb the spread of COVD-19, stand at the entrance of a courthouse before the trial of 475 defendants, including generals and fighter jet pilots, in Sincan, Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. A Turkish court sentenced several military and civilian personnel at an air base to life prison sentences on Thursday, proclaiming them guilty of involvement in a failed coup attempt in 2016, the state-run news agency reported.(AP Photo)

FILE PHOTO: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia March 5, 2020. Pavel Golovkin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

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The former Nissan boss was smuggled in a musical instrument case from Japan to Lebanon, but the pilots said they did not know he was on board
The Turkish trial ran in parallel with hearings in Japan and the US, where Michael Taylor and his son lost their appeal against extradition to Tokyo



The former Nissan boss was smuggled in a musical instrument case from Japan to Lebanon via Turkey, but the pilots said they did not know he was on board.


Japan

Nissan

Carlos Ghosn escape: Turkey sentences pilots, airline official for role in smuggling him from Japan

The former Nissan boss was smuggled in a musical instrument case from Japan to Lebanon, but the pilots said they did not know he was on board The Turkish trial ran in parallel with hearings in Japan and the US, where Michael Taylor and his son lost their appeal against extradition to Tokyo

The former Nissan boss was smuggled in a musical instrument case from Japan to Lebanon, but the pilots said they did not know he was on board

The Turkish trial ran in parallel with hearings in Japan and the US, where Michael Taylor and his son lost their appeal against extradition to Tokyo