A former Maritime Self-Defense Force officer was sentenced Wednesday to 10 months in prison for passing two classified defense documents to a Russian Military attache in June.

Shigehiro Hagisaki

The Tokyo District Court convicted Shigehiro Hagisaki of passing defense information to Victor Bogatenkov, in violation of the Self-Defense Forces Law.

Prosecutors had demanded a 12-month term for Hagisaki, 38, who was a lieutenant commander and researcher at the Defense Agency's National Institute for Defense Studies until he was dishonorably discharged in October.

"I passed defense secrets out of a selfish ambition to emerge as a distinguished Russian expert," Hagisaki said during his trial. "I apologize for jeopardizing the security of the Japanese people."

Hagisaki passed the classified documents to the Russian Embassy's naval attache in Tokyo in the hope of obtaining Russian defense information in exchange, the court said.

Hagisaki wanted the Russian information to complete his master's thesis and help his career as an SDF intelligence officer, the court said.

Hagisaki, who was dismissed from the MSDF upon his arrest Sept. 8, was also paid by Bogatenkov for information on several occasions between December 1999 and August 2000, the court said.

Presiding Judge Norihiro Yoshimura said Hagisaki's conduct damaged public confidence in the SDF and negatively affected Japan's diplomatic relations with other countries.

"(Hagisaki's) conduct was unbecoming of a senior officer" responsible for defending the country, he said. "It shows his lack of responsibility for his position and is serious and malicious."

The judge said Hagisaki's motive, of obtaining Russian defense information for his thesis, represents a selfish pursuit of career at the expense of national defense.

The court said the prison term was necessary because of Hagisaki's "serious criminal responsibility" but also acknowledged that the documents he divulged were the least significant of the SDF's classified materials and that his son's death in March may have affected his judgment.

Hagisaki on June 30 handed over photocopies of two level-three classified MSDF documents at a Shibuya restaurant to Bogatenkov, who reportedly worked for the GRU, Russia's intelligence agency, the court said.

One of the items was a book on combat strategy for junior MSDF officers and the other was a reference book on the future of the SDF communications systems, it said.

Both classified materials have the lowest Defense Agency security level.

The information Hagisaki was seeking, which he thought was necessary to complete his thesis at the defense institute, was related to the Russian Navy, the court said.

He was also paid more than 100,000 yen on several occasion by Bogatenkov with the knowledge the money was payment for passing on secrets, it said. Prosecutors said Hagisaki received 580,000 yen over four occasions.

Hagisaki and Bogatenkov first met in January 1999 at an international defense symposium and met 14 times before Hagisaki's arrest, according to prosecutors.

In his first trial hearing in November, Hagisaki admitted all the charges against him and apologized for "endangering people's lives."

Bogatenkov claimed diplomatic immunity to avoid arrest. Following Hagisaki's arrest Sept. 8, the embassy rejected Japan's request to interrogate Bogatenkov, who left the country the next day.

Hagisaki, a graduate of the National Defense Academy, served aboard MSDF destroyers and support craft.

Fluent in Russian, he had also worked in the MSDF's documentation division, which deals with information on other countries' defense strategies.

In 1997, his son was diagnosed with leukemia at age 7 and Hagisaki joined a religious organization to seek spiritual guidance, according to prosecutors. The boy died in March at the age of 9.

Soon after his son's death, Hagisaki's master's thesis was rejected by the defense academy and he saw the Russian Navy defense information that Bogatenkov promised him as the only way to complete his thesis, the court said.

During his trial, he denied that money was his initial motive for cooperating with Bogatenkov but admitted he needed the cash to donate to the religious organization he had joined.

Hagisaki reportedly donated most of the money to the organization but also bought presents for his ailing son and sent money to his aging parents.