Japanese prosecutors have indicted an anti-whaling activist for illegally boarding a harpoon boat as part of a protest against the ship's whale hunting expedition in Antarctic seas in February.
Peter Bethune, from New Zealand, had jumped aboard the Shonan Maru 2 during the annual face-off between whalers and their opponents with the stated goal of making a citizen's arrest of the captain, while handing over a 3 million US dollar bill for the destruction of a Sea Shepherd protest ship a month earlier.
The 44-year-old was held on board and arrested on March 12 immediately after the ship returned to Japan. He has since been in custody in Tokyo.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office today charged Bethune, of the US-based group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, with five criminal counts - assault, illegal possession of a knife, destruction of property, obstruction of business and trespassing.
The move came a day after Japan's coastguard added a set of new allegations against Bethune, which were reflected in the indictment, said coastguard spokesman Tatsuya Fujino.
Assault and business obstruction each carries a prison term of up to 15 years or a fine of up to 5,340 US dollars. His initial trespassing allegation can bring a prison term of up to three years or a fine of 1,100 US dollars.
Bethune's Japanese lawyers declined to comment.
Japan's annual whale hunt is allowed by the International Whaling Commission as a scientific programme, but opponents call it a cover for commercial whaling, which has been banned since 1986.
Japan hunts hundreds of mostly minke whales, which are not an endangered species. Whale meat not used for study is sold for consumption in Japan.
The Sea Shepherd sends vessels to confront the fleet each year, trying to block the whalers from firing harpoons and dangling ropes in the water to try to snarl the Japanese ships' propellers. The whalers have responded by firing water cannons and sonar devices meant to disorient the activists.
The group described its efforts this year as its "most successful" Antarctic campaign against Japanese whalers.