A court in Beijing has sentenced a Japanese man in his 70s who was arrested in China in June 2015 to 12 years in prison for spying, sources well-informed about Sino-Japanese relations said Tuesday.
The man, from Sapporo in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, was also ordered by the court on Monday to forfeit personal assets totaling 200,000 yuan ($29,000), the sources said.
Chinese authorities have indicted at least eight Japanese nationals on suspicion of espionage since 2015. The verdict was the fourth to be delivered among the eight cases.
As the man's trial was closed to the public, what concrete actions had been deemed espionage or other details of the case remain unknown, the sources said.
Source: ANNnewsCH
