A court in Minsk has sentenced Japanese citizen Nakanishi Masatoshi to seven years in prison on charges of cooperating with a foreign intelligence service, Belarusian state prosecutors announced on March 17.
This was reported by Belarusian media RFI.
The closed-door trial, which began on January 14, concluded with a conviction that Masatoshi had transmitted military intelligence to Japanese authorities between 2018 and 2024, focusing particularly on Belarus’ southern military regions near the border with Ukraine.
Masatoshi was also fined 21,000 Belarusian rubles (roughly $8,000 USD).
A Secretive Case Wrapped in Propaganda
Masatoshi was detained in July 2024, and the case soon became the subject of state media attention.
In September, Belarusian state television aired a propaganda film titled “The Fall of the ‘Samurai’ from Tokyo”, claiming Masatoshi was spying on military infrastructure and troop movements.
According to the film, Masatoshi had been operating in sensitive zones near the Belarus-Ukraine border—an area of strategic importance amid heightened regional tensions.
The Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun expressed skepticism over the evidence, pointing to state media's questionable interpretation of Masatoshi’s private messages.
The Belarusian government aired excerpts from the LINE messaging app, showing casual discussions between Masatoshi and a friend about business prospects in Belarus.
However, a statement regarding the difficulty of launching a business in the country was reportedly twisted into a claim about Ukraine being a “puppet of the United States.”
Observers have questioned whether Masatoshi’s conviction reflects legitimate espionage or politically motivated repression in Belarus.
Masatoshi is one of at least 75 foreign nationals who have faced political repression in Belarus since 2020, according to the human rights center Viasna.
Among them are 13 Ukrainians imprisoned on charges of espionage, collaboration, or “extremist” speech, as well as 8 Russians, 4 Poles, 4 Latvians, and individuals from Lithuania, Estonia, the U.S., Sweden, and Japan.
The wave of detentions follows Belarus’ deepening alliance with Russia and its aggressive response to perceived threats from Western countries and neighboring Ukraine.
Masatoshi’s sentencing comes just as news breaks of the death of Crimean Tatar political prisoner Rustem Virati, who died in a Russian penal colony after being sentenced by occupation authorities in Crimea.
