September 13, Pozirk. Masanari Sato, branded by Belarusian propaganda as the supervisor of a suspected Japanese spy under arrest in Minsk, described the Belarus 1 September 4 coverage of the story as a “total hoax.”
Sato, whom the Belarusian state television channel named as a “representative of Japan’s military intelligence” pointed out in an interview with Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun, that the Russian translation of his chat as shown in the report differed significantly from the Japanese original.
Sato said his correspondence with the suspect, whom he knows for many years, was about doing business in Belarus, not any intelligence activities.
Belarus 1 television channel aired the feature “Failure of ‘Samurai’ from Tokyo,” in which the Committee for State Security (KGB) and the journalist accused the detainee of serious crimes without any regard for the presumption of innocence.
On September 6, Kyodo News reported that Tokyo filed a note with the Belarusian foreign ministry, protesting violations of the arrested man’s rights. On the same day, the Belarusian foreign ministry delivered a note of protest against “espionage activities” to Japanese Ambassador Hiroyuki Yamamoto.
Also read: KGB charges Japanese national with spying, Tokyo files protest
