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TOKYO, Nov. 30 (AP) — The former head of a Japan-China friendship group who recently returned to Japan after serving a six-year sentence in a Beijing prison says his charges are false espionage charges, and he says he still wants to see China become Global leaders, but with better treatment of human rights.
Suzuki Hideji, the former president of the Japan-China Youth Exchange Association, said that he was committed to promoting the friendship between the two countries and had visited China more than 200 times since the 1980s.
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He said he was arrested at Beijing airport when he left China in July 2016 and spent seven months in prison under constant surveillance before being formally arrested and transferred to a detention center.
He was indicted on espionage charges in June 2017 and accused of acting as a representative of Japanese intelligence and discussing North Korea with a senior Japanese diplomat.
During his initial incarceration, he said the windows of his room were covered and he saw only 15 minutes of daylight during the seven months. Suzuki said no books or writing paper were provided, and he was not allowed to see a lawyer or contact the Japanese embassy.
Suzuki told a news conference in Tokyo that imprisoning the suspects before China formally arrests them is “an extremely serious human rights issue.”
Suzuki is one of more than a dozen Japanese citizens detained by Chinese authorities since 2015, a year after China introduced an anti-espionage law to track foreign spies and the Chinese citizens who aid them, according to Japan’s foreign ministry.
Suzuki said his trial was closed and lasted just one session, with no lawyers but an “incompetent” interpreter.
Despite writing seven letters of appeal to a judge, he was sentenced to six years in prison in May 2019 and ordered to leave China after his release. After his appeal was rejected a year later, Suzuki was transferred to a Beijing prison to serve his sentence until his release in mid-October.
As China grows wealthier, the Chinese Communist Party leadership fears that people will start seeking more freedom, Suzuki said. He said he was concerned they might intensify their crackdown on protests, including recent rallies against China’s strict anti-COVID-19 measures.
“The Communist Party is afraid of people seeking freedom of speech and assembly,” Suzuki said. “I suspect they will step up efforts to suppress the protests.”
Despite the ordeal, Suzuki said he had not become “anti-China” and wanted to see China become a healthier country and global leader in the future.
“What China lacks the most is understanding how the rest of the world sees it,” he said. “So I’m talking about my experience to raise awareness of China’s problems.” (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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