The BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson, acknowledging that Carlos Ghosn had said he didn't want to cause a fuss between Lebanon and Japan, asked Mr Ghosn how high up in the Japanese system the conspiracy he claims against him goes.

Mr Ghosn said: "I don't personally think that the top level was involved... but I need to respect my own word to avoid any conflict between the two countries."

He also told the BBC: "I would be ready to stand trial anywhere I think I can have a fair trial."

Image source, REuters

In response to a reporter's question, Carlos Ghosn says: I am going to clear my name, find a way to make sure the truth will come back."

"I can't accept the fact that fabricating a story or lying about it can win," he says in another answer.

Image source, Getty Images

The Carlos Ghosn news conference is just taking a break. In a short while, Mr Ghosn will take questions in any one of his several languages.

Carlos Ghosn's news conference continues - it's now been going on for more than an hour.

He described the charges against him as "political" and reiterated his innocence.

"This is political, this is political... I am innocent of all the charges... all of them. "I left japan because I wanted justice."

The Japanese justice minister is expected to make a brief statement in response to Carlos Ghosn's news conference.

The Carlos Ghosn presser is continuing - here's a look at some of his key comments so far.

He said he was "presumed guilty before the eyes of the world" and that his "unimaginable ordeal is the result of a handful of unscrupulous, vindictive individuals".

He insisted that the charges against him "are baseless".

"Why have they extended the investigation timeline, why have they rearrested me? Why were they so intent on preventing me from talking and setting out my facts?

"Why have they spent 14 months trying to break my spirit, barring any contact with my wife?"

He went on to suggest one reason was that " Nissan performance unfortunately started to decline at the beginning of 2017...

"In October 2016, I decided to remove myself from Nissan...because I signed a deal with Mitsubishi. I moved to Mitsubishi as chairman of the board."

Carlos Ghosn has compared the alleged plot to oust him from Nissan to the Pearl Harbor attacks.

The comments are highly likely to provoke controversy in Japan.

The Guardian's Rob Davies reports: "He says his friends have asked how he didn’t notice he was being set up -- and he reminds them how the Japanese air force caught the Americans by surprise in 1941."

Image source, Getty Images

In the course of his news conference - which has now been going on for the best part of 45 minutes - Carlos Ghosn referred to his former colleague at Nissan, 63-year-old US citizen Greg Kelly, who was head of the legal department.

Describing Mr Kelly as "an honourable man", he said: "Greg remains a victim of the Japanese hostage justice system."

Meanwhile, the Turkish operator of private jets that Carlos Ghosn used to escape Japan said on Wednesday it had met with the Japanese ambassador to Turkey and offered to collaborate with local authorities over the incident.

A spokesperson for Turkey-based MNG Jet said: "The company met with the Japanese ambassador in Ankara to offer to collaborate with the authorities."

The company added that it was unaware Mr Ghosn flew on its jets.

MNG has filed a criminal complaint saying one of its employees falsified documents to facilitate the escape.

Carlos Ghosn says his lawyers told him he could be in Japan "for maybe five years" before a judgement was made in his case.

Image source, Getty Images

Carlos Ghosn is now detailing the treatment he said he was subjected to in Japan which he says included 130 days in solitary confinement in a "tiny cell without a window".

He says that when there was a holiday, he could not leave his cell because there were hardly any guards around - "six days without human contact over the New Year ".

He says he only got two showers a day and claims he was not allowed prescribed medicine.

More from the Carlos Ghosn news conference - and there's not much luck for those reporters anxious to find out how Mr Ghosn managed to flee Japan.

"I am not here to talk about how I left Japan... I am here to talk about why. I am here to shed light on a system that violates the most basic [human rights]," he said

"I am here to clear my name. These allegations are untrue and I should never have been arrested in the first place."

"They [family members] all endured unimaginable pain, they were barred to see me or even speak to me for months."

Image source, AFP

Carlos Ghosn is not been pulling any punches during his much anticipated news conference.

So far, he says: "I was brutally taken from my work as I knew it, ripped from my work, my family and my friends."

He adds: "It is impossible to express the depth of that deprivation and my profound appreciation to be able to be reunited with my family and loved ones."

"'It will get worse for you if you don't just confess,' the prosecutor told me repeatedly."

Carlos Ghosn is now going into detail about why he thinks Nissan made these charges against him.

He says that he transformed the company to one that had $20bn in cash and was in a better position than when he joined it.

Back then, it was a "dead company", he says.

Michael Wayland, CNBC automotive industry reporter, tweets: