(RFE/RL) September 11, 2006 -- Preliminary hearings opened today at a court in Yuzhno-Kurilsk in Russia's Far East in the trial of a Japanese fishing-boat captain.
Russian prosecutors indicted Noboru Sakashita earlier this month for poaching and illegally crossing a state border in connection with the August 16 incident.
During the incident Russian border guards killed one of his crew.
The incident took place in disputed waters near the southernmost of four islands claimed by both countries.
(AP, AFP)
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