ZHUHAI - The trial arising from a tour of 200 Japanese tourists who cavorted with Chinese prostitutes ended this week with two Chinese defendants sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to the verdict of the Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court, another 12 defendants were sentenced to prison terms of between two and 15 years for organizing prostitution or assisting in the organization of the orgy.

Chinese police have also requested Interpol to help locate three Japanese citizens, Hirobe Isao, Takahashi Shunji and Fukunaga Koji, who were accused of soliciting and organizing prostitution for their 200-plus work mates.

The three-day party, allegedly involving hundreds of Chinese prostitutes, ended on September 18, and triggered wide anger among the Chinese public as it coincided with the sensitive anniversary date of a 1931 Japanese attack on Northeast China - the so-called "Mukden Incident" - an event marking the start of Japan's invasion and occupation of China.

The Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court opened the trial on December 12 with 14 Chinese defendants accused of organizing prostitution, but the public and non-essential court employees were barred from the courthouse due to privacy concerns.

According to evidence presented in court, Ye Xiang and Ming Zhu, employees of an unnamed Zhuhai hotel, were the two main offenders. They received life sentences and all their property was ordered to be confiscated.

Liu Xuejing and Zhang Junying, another two organizers from the hotel, were sentenced to 15 year's imprisonment and 12 years respectively and both were also fined.

Another 10 defendants were sentenced to prison terms of two to 10 years in addition to fines.

According to the evidence, Hirobe Isao from an Osaka-based construction company first contacted the hotel in March to arrange a meeting. But the plan was postponed due to the SARS crisis in China.

At the end of August, Isao came to Zhuhai with his colleagues Takahashi Shunji and Fukunaga Koji to sign an agreement with the hotel and requested that sexual services be made available for the tourist group during talks with Liu Xuejing, a manager with the hotel.

With this request, Ye Xiang, who worked for the hotel, contacted prostitutes Ming Zhu and Zhang Junying, who later gathered a group of prostitutes from a number of entertainment outlets.

The 200-member Japanese tourist group arrived in Zhuhai on September 16 and some of the tourists brought the prostitutes to their hotel rooms for sex, the court heard.

All the members of the tourist group left China on September 18.

The Xinhua News Agency has also learned that Chinese police have verified criminal evidence relating to the three Japanese suspects and Chinese prosecutors have issued arrest warrants.

Interpol China has requested the issue of alert notices targeting the suspects and the Chinese Foreign Ministry has also made representations to the Japanese government for assistance in arresting the three suspects and bringing them to justice.

Investigations have indicated that no Party or government officials in Zhuhai were involved in the orgy, government sources said. But 15 officials from the local public security and tourist administration departments have been disciplined for negligence.

(Xinhua)