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Chinese trawler captain leaves Japan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-09-25 02:12

BEIJING - The illegally detained captain of a Chinese trawler left Japan early Saturday on a charter flight sent by China to bring him back, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced.

Zhan Qixiong, the trawler captain who had been illegally detained by Japanese authorities since September 8, left Japan at 1:12 a.m. Beijing time Saturday on the charter flight with a joint work team from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday that any form of the so-called judicial procedures taken by Japan against the captain, including the so-called reserving of the right to indict him, is illegal and invalid.