hard fact

新年おめでとうございます。今年もえいご1日1語をよろしくお願いいたします。

年末年始の国際関係のトップニュースと言えば、このニュースでしょう。

不正会計などで起訴された日産の元CEOカルロス・ゴーン氏が国外逃亡しました。


London (CNN Business)Carlos Ghosn was once feted in Japan as a titan of the auto industry, the charismatic boss of emblematic automakers Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors. If he wasn't one of the country's most recognizable faces then, he certainly became one when he was spectacularly fired after being arrested in November 2018 on suspicion of financial misconduct.

The terms of his 1.5 billion yen bail (that's $13.8 million) required that he remain in Japan in advance of his trial, set for 2020. Deemed a flight risk, Ghosn's three passports were confiscated, held by his defense team in order that he could not leave the country. Even then, he was placed under strict surveillance and he was subject to restrictions on his use of phones and computers.
If he couldn't leave his Tokyo apartment to buy a carton of milk without someone knowing about it, how on earth did he just manage to flee the country?

In the absence of hard facts, there has been plenty of speculation. Among the more outlandish theories to be raised in Lebanese media was that he was smuggled out in a box designed for musical instruments, after a private performance at his home by a Gregorian music ensemble.
(Jack Guy. How did Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan without any of his three passports? CNN. December 31, 2019.)


ゴーン氏は今年4月に予定されている審判を前に監視下に置かれ、外出は元より、国外旅行など不可能なはずだったのですが、あっさりと母国のレバノンへ逃げおおせたのは日本検察の恥というほかないでしょうか。

ところで、ゴーン氏が所有するパスポートは弁護士の管理下にあり、一体どのようにして国外へ脱出したのか、詳しいことは分かっておらず、、楽器のケースの中に隠れていたなどの憶測情報が飛び交っています。

引用した記事では、


In the absence of hard facts, there has been plenty of speculation.


とありますが、"hard fact(s)"という表現は初めて見るように思います。

逃亡したという事実（fact）はあれど、その手段については詳しく分かっていないわけで、そこには"hard"と"soft"の別があるというのは「事実」という表現とは矛盾するようにも思われます。

日本語では何と訳したものかと思いますが、動かしがたい事実、とでもすべきでしょうか。