NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & SportsSavoie Being 'Tortured' in Japan, Attorney Claims

Savoie Being 'Tortured' in Japan, Attorney Claims

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Christopher Savoie has now been locked up two weeks in a Japanese jail, and now his attorney said the Franklin father is being "tortured."

Savoie was arrested two weeks ago 7,000 miles from home in Fukuoka, Japan -- accused of trying to abduct his children who were abducted from him here in Tennessee.

Monday, Savoie's American attorney said his client is being kept in a cell that's brightly lit around the clock and he is being repeatedly interrogated without a lawyer -- as Japanese authorities pressure him to confess.

Savoie was arrested after he grabbed his two children, Isaac and Rebecca, and tried to beat police to the nearby U.S. Consulate.

His ex-wife, Noriko, is wanted here in Tennessee for abducting the children to Japan.

Savoie's attorney pointed to this study by a Japanese legal group that uses the word "torture" to describe how Japan treats people accused of crimes.

It says that, "Suspects who deny charges are interrogated from morning until night.... This system totally exhausts suspects physically and mentally" with the intention of "forcing confessions."

Japanese authorities have had little to say about the case.

Savoie's attorney also said that the Franklin father isn't allowed to meet with his Japanese attorney in private, that if he wants to talk to his attorney he must do it with police present.

He faces almost another week of this kind of detention until prosecutors have to decide whether they're going to indict him or set him free.

Read statement from Savoie's lawyer on alleged 'torture' (.pdf)

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