ID :
12151
Fri, 07/11/2008 - 11:44
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https://oananews.org//node/12151
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Defense force officer pleads not guilty to warship data leakage
YOKOHAMA, July 11 Kyodo - A Maritime Self-Defense Force officer pleaded not guilty Thursday to the charge of violating the defense secret protection law for allegedly leaking confidential data on the U.S.-developed Aegis air defense system for warships.
Lt. Cmdr. Sumitaka Matsuuchi, 34, entered the not-guilty plea at the first hearing of his trial at the Yokohama District Court. He admitted to taking thedata but said he does not think he leaked sensitive defense secrets.
According to the indictment, Matsuuchi, who was a member of the MSDF computer program development unit, allegedly took the data from the unit, copied theinformation onto the hard disc of his computer in May 2002 and passed a CD containing the data to an officer colleague in August that year.
In Thursday's court session, Matsuuchi denied leaking defense secrets, saying the colleague to whom he handed the data was a teaching staff and an Aegissystem expert at an MSDF service school.
The defense counsel argued in court that most of the data that Matsuuchi tookcan be obtained from the Internet, almanacs and yearbooks on defense affairs.
Matsuuchi's denial of allegedly leaking data could lead to a battle between the prosecution and the defense over the definition of defense secrets stated in the Law Concerning the Protection of Secrets for the Japan-U.S. Mutual DefenseAssistance Agreement, judicial sources said.
The law sets imprisonment of up to 10 years for those who handle defense secrets as their duty and leak the secrets gained from that duty. It also carries a lighter punishment of imprisonment of up to five years for those whodo not handle defense secrets as their duty and leak the secrets obtained.
In the court session, Matsuuchi argued that his duty did not involve handling Aegis information -- an argument that his conduct, even if he is found guilty,should be given a more lenient punishment.
Moreover, the five-year statute of limitations on the leakage of secrets by those who do not handle defense secrets as their duty has already expired. In contrast, the seven-year statute of limitations has not yet run out for theleakage of secrets by those who handle such secrets as their duty.
The prosecution delivered the opening statement, outlining the background behind the defendant's alleged leakage of defense secrets and saying the data that Matsuuchi took include numerical specifics on the capabilities of theAegis air defense and the destroyers' fire control system.
Matsuuchi is the first to be criminally charged for violating the defensesecrets protection law that came into force in 1954.
Last December, prosecutors filed an indictment against Matsuuchi, saying he hadthe authority to handle defense secrets.
The scandal came to light in January 2007 when police searched the home of an MSDF petty officer second class, following the arrest of his Chinese wife onsuspicion of violating immigration regulations.
Investigators seized at the officer's home a computer hard disc that containedthe data on the Aegis system.
In December that year, the police arrested Matsuuchi and filed an investigative report with prosecutors for possible indictment on the officer colleague and three other MSDF members for their alleged involvement in the data leakagecase.
The prosecutors decided in January against filing an indictment against thefour, saying they had no authority to handle defense secrets.
In March, the Defense Ministry announced that a total of 38 people were found to be involved in the leakage of data on the Aegis system and that two of themwere dismissed.
==Kyodo
Lt. Cmdr. Sumitaka Matsuuchi, 34, entered the not-guilty plea at the first hearing of his trial at the Yokohama District Court. He admitted to taking thedata but said he does not think he leaked sensitive defense secrets.
According to the indictment, Matsuuchi, who was a member of the MSDF computer program development unit, allegedly took the data from the unit, copied theinformation onto the hard disc of his computer in May 2002 and passed a CD containing the data to an officer colleague in August that year.
In Thursday's court session, Matsuuchi denied leaking defense secrets, saying the colleague to whom he handed the data was a teaching staff and an Aegissystem expert at an MSDF service school.
The defense counsel argued in court that most of the data that Matsuuchi tookcan be obtained from the Internet, almanacs and yearbooks on defense affairs.
Matsuuchi's denial of allegedly leaking data could lead to a battle between the prosecution and the defense over the definition of defense secrets stated in the Law Concerning the Protection of Secrets for the Japan-U.S. Mutual DefenseAssistance Agreement, judicial sources said.
The law sets imprisonment of up to 10 years for those who handle defense secrets as their duty and leak the secrets gained from that duty. It also carries a lighter punishment of imprisonment of up to five years for those whodo not handle defense secrets as their duty and leak the secrets obtained.
In the court session, Matsuuchi argued that his duty did not involve handling Aegis information -- an argument that his conduct, even if he is found guilty,should be given a more lenient punishment.
Moreover, the five-year statute of limitations on the leakage of secrets by those who do not handle defense secrets as their duty has already expired. In contrast, the seven-year statute of limitations has not yet run out for theleakage of secrets by those who handle such secrets as their duty.
The prosecution delivered the opening statement, outlining the background behind the defendant's alleged leakage of defense secrets and saying the data that Matsuuchi took include numerical specifics on the capabilities of theAegis air defense and the destroyers' fire control system.
Matsuuchi is the first to be criminally charged for violating the defensesecrets protection law that came into force in 1954.
Last December, prosecutors filed an indictment against Matsuuchi, saying he hadthe authority to handle defense secrets.
The scandal came to light in January 2007 when police searched the home of an MSDF petty officer second class, following the arrest of his Chinese wife onsuspicion of violating immigration regulations.
Investigators seized at the officer's home a computer hard disc that containedthe data on the Aegis system.
In December that year, the police arrested Matsuuchi and filed an investigative report with prosecutors for possible indictment on the officer colleague and three other MSDF members for their alleged involvement in the data leakagecase.
The prosecutors decided in January against filing an indictment against thefour, saying they had no authority to handle defense secrets.
In March, the Defense Ministry announced that a total of 38 people were found to be involved in the leakage of data on the Aegis system and that two of themwere dismissed.
==Kyodo
