A Japanese Businessman Sentenced Three Years in Prison by China
The Second Middle-class Court (district court) in Beijing, China, sentenced to a Japanese businessman three and a half years in prison with charge of activity of espionage. The court did not explain the details of its decision about the crime of the Japanese who had been arrested in Beijing in 2023. Japanese Ambassador to China, Kenji Kanasugi, immediately expressed his regret on the court decision. A Japanese businessman in his sixties with Astellas Pharma, who worked for local subsidiary in China, was in custody in March, 2023, just before returning to Japan, and arrested in October 2023. He was indicted with charge of violating the anti-espionage act in August 2024 and the trial started in November 2024. The Chinese authority has not revealed the details of what kind of activity of the man caused the arrest or charge. The trial finished in fifteen minutes with observers from Japanese Embassy including Ambassador Kanasugi. Kanasugi announced that the trial did not ...