A Belarusian court has sentenced Japanese national Masatoshi Nakanishi to seven years in prison on espionage charges, accusing him of working for Japan’s intelligence service.
Nakanishi, who had been living in Belarus since 2018, was arrested in July and accused of photographing military and civilian facilities near the Belarus-Ukraine border over a six-year period. Authorities claimed he shared thousands of images with Japanese intelligence agencies.
The Minsk City Court delivered the verdict following a two-month closed-door trial. Nakanishi was convicted of “cooperating with a foreign special service, security, and intelligence agency in actions aimed at harming Belarus’ national security,” according to the prosecutor general’s office. In addition to his prison term, he was fined approximately €6,130.
Japanese Government Demands Release
Japanese authorities have condemned the ruling and have been in contact with Belarusian officials to demand Nakanishi’s immediate release. The Japanese embassy in Minsk had sought to attend the trial but was denied access.
Nakanishi, who had been teaching Japanese at a university in Gomel, Belarus’ second-largest city, was the subject of a state-controlled television programme titled The Failure of a Samurai from Tokyo, which aired last September. Japanese officials criticized the broadcast, calling it a violation of Nakanishi’s rights.
Political Prisoners and International Condemnation
The Viasna Human Rights Centre, a Belarusian NGO, has declared Nakanishi a political prisoner, adding him to a growing list of more than 1,200 individuals in Belarus whom the group considers unjustly detained. This includes 36 foreign citizens.
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya condemned the sentencing, stating that Nakanishi was being “dehumanised by regime propaganda.”
Belarus’ long-time leader, President Alexander Lukashenko, has ruled the country for over 30 years with strong support from Russia. In 2022, he allowed Russian forces to use Belarusian territory as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine and later permitted the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons inside the country.
Japan has imposed sanctions on both Russia and Belarus in response to Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
