WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department said Monday it "condemns" Russia's recent detention of a Japanese journalist in its Far East on suspicion of espionage.
"The United States condemns any attempts to intimidate, harass, and punish journalists and independent voices," a State Department spokesman said in response to Kyodo News' question about the detention of a correspondent with the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper, which Russia's Federal Security Service announced last week.
It is the first time a U.S. government official has stated a position on the case. The male journalist, detained in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the capital of the Sakhalin region that borders Hokkaido in northern Japan, has been accused of gathering information related to Russia's defense capabilities for Tokyo.
The journalist was later transferred to Moscow, where a court ordered that he remain in custody for about two months.
The Japanese government has been demanding that Russia provide details of the detention and consular access to him.
The government and the newspaper have denied the Russian security agency's allegations.
"The United States considers freedom of expression to be a foundational right," the spokesman added. "Societies are strengthened by free expression of opinion and government censorship is intolerable in a free society."
