SENTENCE TO OFFICER OF JAPANESE NAVY CHARGED WITH ESPIONAGE IN FAVOUR OF RUSSIA








TOKYO, MARCH 7, 2001 /FROM RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT VYACHESLAV BANTIN/ -- The officer the Navy of the Self-Defence Forces, charged with passing secret materials to a Russian diplomat, was sentenced by the Tokyo court today to imprisonment for ten months.


	As the RIA Novosti correspondent reports, the sentence points out that the investigation proved the fact of the passing by 38-year-old staffer of a military scientific-research institute Shigehiro Hagisaki of the copies of "strategic materials concerning the system of training servicemen and the prospects for the development of communication media" to a staffer of the military attache's office of the Russian Federation in Japan on June 30, 2000.


	The indictment says that the defendant's actions "did great damage to the nation, having considerably undermined the people's trust in the Self-Defence Forces".


	Reading out the indictment, the chief judge noted that the fact that Hagisaki had deeply repented of his deed, as well as that his elder son is gravely ill had been taken into consideration during the determination of the punishment. "At the same time, assessing the gravity of the crime, we arrive at the conclusion on inadmissibility of postponing the administration of the punishment", the judge said.