A Japanese court on Monday sentenced a Japanese man to seven years in prison for damaging the Chinese Consulate General in Osaka.

The Osaka District Court ruled that the defendant, Nobuyuki Nakagama, 36, was guilty of damage to property and attempted arson.

The court heard that on April 23, 2004, Nakagama had rammed his vehicle into the front gate of the consulate and attempted to burn the property by setting fire to his vehicle.

The attack, which badly damaged the gate of the consulate but caused no casualties, was the most serious by a suspected Japanese right-winger against Chinese diplomatic facilities since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1972.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2005)