Tokyo prosecutors decided Thursday not to indict a former Russian diplomat over allegations that he had illegally obtained trade secrets from SoftBank Corp.

Anton Kalinin, 52, former deputy Russian trade representative in Japan, left the country for Russia in February although Japanese police had filed a request through the Foreign Ministry for the Russian Embassy to make him turn himself in.

Thursday's decision came after the police referred the case to prosecutors, suspecting Kalinin persuaded Yutaka Araki, a former employee of the major Japanese mobile carrier, to acquire its proprietary information such as manuals for mobile phone base stations at a restaurant in the Tokyo area on Nov. 20, 2018.

Araki, 48, who has been indicted for violating the unfair competition prevention law, admitted to the charge at a hearing of his trial in June.

Prosecutors sought a two-year prison term and a fine of 1 million yen ($9,300) for Araki, and the ruling is scheduled to be delivered on July 9.

==Kyodo

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