ID :
150182
Wed, 11/17/2010 - 11:16
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/150182
The shortlink copeid
Coast Guard member felt public needed to see leaked video of collisions+
TOKYO, Nov. 16 Kyodo - A Japan Coast Guard member said he posted online a video of collisions between Chinese and Japanese vessels near disputed islands because the footage had only
been shown to some Diet members and he thought the public should see it and judge for themselves, investigative sources said Tuesday.
The 43-year-old navigator of the Uranami, a patrol boat of the Kobe Coast Guard
Office, also said he initially had no intention of leaking the footage and he
saved it from the personal computer on the Uranami only for the benefit of his
own ''work and study.''
The Japanese government has withheld the video from the public, apparently out
of concern not to provoke China, and showed it to around 30 Diet members on
Nov. 1 after the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office, which investigated
the collisions, submitted it to parliament.
In the early hours of Tuesday, he issued a statement saying he wanted to show
people what was happening in Japanese waters, before leaving a public building
in the western Japanese port city of Kobe for the first time since Nov. 10,
when he confessed leaking the video to his supervisor.
''I just wanted as many people as possible to see the events that are occurring
far away in Japan's seas so that each person will think about it, make a
judgment and then take action,'' he said in the statement read out by his
lawyer.
On Monday, police and prosecutors decided to continue questioning the officer
on a voluntary basis without arresting him as they have been able to secure
enough evidence to confirm the explanations he has given during four days of
questioning so far, according to the sources.
The authorities plan to have Tokyo police send to prosecutors reports on the
video leak and are aiming to bring the investigation to a conclusion by the end
of the year, the sources said.
They have apparently determined that it was not necessary to arrest him because
he appears unlikely to destroy evidence or elude prosecution and because they
need more time to examine carefully whether his actions constituted a breach of
confidentiality rules, according to the sources.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo, the investigators did
not question the officer on Tuesday.
The investigation thus far has suggested problems with the Coast Guard's
information management and in-house probe into the incident, pointing to the
possibility that Commandant Hisayasu Suzuki may be forced to resign.
The question of responsibility over the video leak may also be raised for Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Sumio Mabuchi, whose ministry
supervises the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard member allegedly violated the National Public Service Law,
which prohibits civil servants from divulging secrets obtained in the course of
their work, by posting on the YouTube site footage of the collisions between a
Chinese trawler and Coast Guard patrol boats near the Senkaku Islands in the
East China Sea.
The roughly 44-minute video, which was posted online in six clips on Nov. 4
from an Internet cafe in Kobe, was recorded by members of the Ishigaki Coast
Guard Office in Okinawa Prefecture during the Sept. 7 collisions. One of the
clips showed the Chinese trawler ramming a Coast Guard patrol boat.
According to the investigation, the leaked video of the collisions was stored
in a shared folder on a computer terminal at the Japan Coast Guard Academy in
Hiroshima Prefecture without access restrictions for about four or five days
from mid-September.
The revelation that the video was widely accessible to Coast Guard members,
contradicting the result of the Coast Guard's in-house probe, has led
authorities to think it may not be appropriate to view the navigator's action
as a breach of confidentiality rules.
The footage was provided by the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha,
Okinawa Prefecture, to the officers' school on Sept. 17 for analysis of the
collision situation, the sources said.
The officer was quoted as telling investigators that a colleague had downloaded
the video footage from the academy's shared folder onto a personal computer on
the Uranami in late September and that he saved it on a USB data storage device
in mid-October.
The collisions triggered a diplomatic dispute between Japan and China, as
Beijing claimed that the arrest and detention of the Chinese boat captain by
Japanese authorities was illegal. Japanese prosecutors freed the skipper in
late September, but the two countries are still working on mending ties.
The Senkaku Islands, called Diaoyu in China, are administered by Japan but
claimed by China.
==Kyodo
2010-11-16 23:28:57
been shown to some Diet members and he thought the public should see it and judge for themselves, investigative sources said Tuesday.
The 43-year-old navigator of the Uranami, a patrol boat of the Kobe Coast Guard
Office, also said he initially had no intention of leaking the footage and he
saved it from the personal computer on the Uranami only for the benefit of his
own ''work and study.''
The Japanese government has withheld the video from the public, apparently out
of concern not to provoke China, and showed it to around 30 Diet members on
Nov. 1 after the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office, which investigated
the collisions, submitted it to parliament.
In the early hours of Tuesday, he issued a statement saying he wanted to show
people what was happening in Japanese waters, before leaving a public building
in the western Japanese port city of Kobe for the first time since Nov. 10,
when he confessed leaking the video to his supervisor.
''I just wanted as many people as possible to see the events that are occurring
far away in Japan's seas so that each person will think about it, make a
judgment and then take action,'' he said in the statement read out by his
lawyer.
On Monday, police and prosecutors decided to continue questioning the officer
on a voluntary basis without arresting him as they have been able to secure
enough evidence to confirm the explanations he has given during four days of
questioning so far, according to the sources.
The authorities plan to have Tokyo police send to prosecutors reports on the
video leak and are aiming to bring the investigation to a conclusion by the end
of the year, the sources said.
They have apparently determined that it was not necessary to arrest him because
he appears unlikely to destroy evidence or elude prosecution and because they
need more time to examine carefully whether his actions constituted a breach of
confidentiality rules, according to the sources.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo, the investigators did
not question the officer on Tuesday.
The investigation thus far has suggested problems with the Coast Guard's
information management and in-house probe into the incident, pointing to the
possibility that Commandant Hisayasu Suzuki may be forced to resign.
The question of responsibility over the video leak may also be raised for Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Sumio Mabuchi, whose ministry
supervises the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard member allegedly violated the National Public Service Law,
which prohibits civil servants from divulging secrets obtained in the course of
their work, by posting on the YouTube site footage of the collisions between a
Chinese trawler and Coast Guard patrol boats near the Senkaku Islands in the
East China Sea.
The roughly 44-minute video, which was posted online in six clips on Nov. 4
from an Internet cafe in Kobe, was recorded by members of the Ishigaki Coast
Guard Office in Okinawa Prefecture during the Sept. 7 collisions. One of the
clips showed the Chinese trawler ramming a Coast Guard patrol boat.
According to the investigation, the leaked video of the collisions was stored
in a shared folder on a computer terminal at the Japan Coast Guard Academy in
Hiroshima Prefecture without access restrictions for about four or five days
from mid-September.
The revelation that the video was widely accessible to Coast Guard members,
contradicting the result of the Coast Guard's in-house probe, has led
authorities to think it may not be appropriate to view the navigator's action
as a breach of confidentiality rules.
The footage was provided by the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha,
Okinawa Prefecture, to the officers' school on Sept. 17 for analysis of the
collision situation, the sources said.
The officer was quoted as telling investigators that a colleague had downloaded
the video footage from the academy's shared folder onto a personal computer on
the Uranami in late September and that he saved it on a USB data storage device
in mid-October.
The collisions triggered a diplomatic dispute between Japan and China, as
Beijing claimed that the arrest and detention of the Chinese boat captain by
Japanese authorities was illegal. Japanese prosecutors freed the skipper in
late September, but the two countries are still working on mending ties.
The Senkaku Islands, called Diaoyu in China, are administered by Japan but
claimed by China.
==Kyodo
2010-11-16 23:28:57
