Tokyo, Oct. 26 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government said Monday that officials from the Japanese Embassy in Moscow held a consular meeting the same day with a reporter for Japan’s Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper detained by Russian authorities on suspicion of espionage. The reporter, a Japanese national, was found to be in good health. Tokyo said it will continue to strongly urge Moscow to immediately release him and ensure humanitarian consideration as well as fair and impartial treatment. Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said on Oct. 13 that it had detained the reporter for Hokkaido Shimbun’s Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk bureau in Sakhalin Oblast in Russia’s Far East. The reporter was transferred to Moscow, where a court approved his detention for two months. Espionage is a serious crime in Russia, carrying a prison sentence of up to 20 years upon conviction. Under diplomatic arrangements between Japan and Russia, the right to a consular meeting can be exercised within four days of detention, but such a meeting had not taken place for the Hokkaido Shimbun reporter until Monday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
