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Case against Japanese "poaching" captain sent to Russian court

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VLADIVOSTOK, September 4 (RIA Novosti) - A criminal case against the captain of a Japanese fishing boat involved in an alleged poaching incident in Russian waters was sent Monday to a Russian court in the South Kuril Islands.

Noboru Sakashita, 59, was arrested August 16 near the Kuril Islands in an incident that saw one of his crewmates fatally shot by Russian border guards. Russian officials said the vessel had been suspected of illegally fishing for valuable crab in Russian territorial waters and that border guards had fired warning shots only after it had refused to stop.

Local prosecutors said Noboru Sakashita had seen the contents of the case against him. "The South Kurils district court will now have to set the date for the beginning of the trial," they said.

Earlier Sakashita took responsibility for the alleged poaching incident while being questioned by Russian authorities, saying the crewmembers on the Kisshin maru 31 had been unaware they had crossed Russia's maritime border.

The incident strained relations between Russia and Japan, which have disputed the ownership of the Kurils for over 60 years. Japan maintains that their seizure by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II was illegal, and the dispute has until now kept the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty.

It was the third incident for the Kisshin maru 31, as it was involved in confrontations with Russian border guards in 1988 and 1994.

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