ID :
191658
Wed, 06/29/2011 - 03:13
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/191658
The shortlink copeid
Japan Prosecutors Again Drop Charges against China Skipper
The Naha District Public Prosecutors Office on Tuesday decided again not to indict a Chinese fisherman whose trawler hit Japan Coast Guard ships in September last year.
The office made the decision after reinvestigating the collision accident following a ruling earlier this year by a prosecution inquest panel in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, that Zhan Qixiong, 42, the captain of the Chinese fishing boat, should be indicted.
It is unlikely that Zhan will commit the same offense again because he has not been found to be engaged in illegal fishing operations in Japanese waters near disputed East China Sea islands since he returned to China last September, the office said.
The collision occurred on Sept. 7 near the disputed islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The incident badly affected the two countries' relations.
Zhan was arrested the following day on charges of obstructing the duties of the Japan Coast Guard. But he was released later in the month, and the Naha prosecutors office decided not to indict him in January this year.
The office made the decision after reinvestigating the collision accident following a ruling earlier this year by a prosecution inquest panel in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, that Zhan Qixiong, 42, the captain of the Chinese fishing boat, should be indicted.
It is unlikely that Zhan will commit the same offense again because he has not been found to be engaged in illegal fishing operations in Japanese waters near disputed East China Sea islands since he returned to China last September, the office said.
The collision occurred on Sept. 7 near the disputed islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The incident badly affected the two countries' relations.
Zhan was arrested the following day on charges of obstructing the duties of the Japan Coast Guard. But he was released later in the month, and the Naha prosecutors office decided not to indict him in January this year.
