Japanese Man Gets 7 Years for Spying in Belarus

Tokyo, March 17 (Jiji Press)--A court in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, has sentenced detained Japanese citizen Masatoshi Nakanishi to seven years in prison for spying, Russia's Tass state news agency said Monday.

Nakanishi, who is in his 50s, was detained in July last year while he was working as a teacher of the Japanese language in Gomel, southeastern Belarus.

Belarus' state television last September ran a program on Nakanishi despite a Japanese warning against doing so.

After that, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry filed a protest with Japanese Ambassador to Belarus Hiroyuki Yamamoto, saying that Nakanishi's activities harmed the security of Belarus.

Another Japanese citizen was detained in Belarus, an ally of Russia, in December last year. Russian troops invaded Ukraine via Gomel in February 2022.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]