A district court on Russian-held Kunashiri Island decided Monday to send back to prosecutors their case against a captured Japanese skipper charged with illegal border crossing and poaching in Russian waters.
The decision, made at a pretrial inquiry in response to a request from Noboru Sakashita's defense counsel, gives prosecutors up to five days for further investigation, after which the court will set the date for the first trial session, according to the prosecutors.
The defense counsel requested sending the case back to the prosecutors as one of their documents, which showed the course of Sakashita's crab fishing boat, was dated one day before it was captured, and they failed to specify the locations where Sakashita and other crew members were allegedly poaching.