Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki have both been found guilty of theft and trespass after intercepting a box of whale meat

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

Two anti-whaling activists were today found guilty of theft and trespass while attempting to expose embezzlement in Japan's heavily subsidised whaling industry.

Greenpeace members Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki were each sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for three years. Prosecutors had sought 18-month terms for the "Tokyo Two".

Sato and Suzuki intercepted a 23kg (50lb) box of whale meat at a delivery depot in the northern city of Aomori in 2008, claiming it had been stolen by a member of the country's whaling crew.

The meat, worth about 60,000 yen, was part of a much larger quantity habitually taken from the Nisshin Maru, the fleet's mother ship, and sold for personal profit, they said.

"This sentence is totally disproportionate and completely undeserved," Suzuki said after the ruling at Aomori district court. "We set out to reveal the truth about the government's whaling programme, but instead have been punished, while those behind the misuse of public money walk free."

The Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo, a quasi-governmental body that organises the annual hunts, insists that members of the crew traditionally take home small amounts of meat as gifts for their families after spending months at sea.

The International Whaling Commission permits Japan to kill about 950 whales a year for "scientific research", despite a 1986 ban on commercial whaling. The meat from the culls is sold on the open market in Japan.

Suzuki, 43, and Sato, 33, who were alerted to embezzlement by a member of the whaling crew, took their findings to the authorities in May 2008 after a three-month Greenpeace investigation into the whistleblower's claims.

Some whalers would take home up to 10 boxes of whale meat, which fetches about 20,000 yen a kilo when sold legally, the whistleblower, known only as "Kujira-san" (Mr Whale), told the Guardian in an interview.

Prosecutors decided not to pursue the case and instead arrested the activists. They were held for 23 days without charge, during which they were interrogated while strapped to chairs, and were compared to members of Aum Supreme Truth, the doomsday cult that carried out the fatal gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995.

"In the international court of public opinion, Junichi and Toru were acquitted a long time ago," Kumi Naidoo, director of Greenpeace International, told reporters in Aomori. "Their actions were not of a criminal nature. They were acting in the public interest and to expose the mass theft of Japanese taxpayers' money.

"We appeal to the Japanese government to launch an independent commission of inquiry to explore the initial allegations made by Junichi and Toru."