TOKYO--A Japanese researcher who faced U.S. charges of economic espionage has sued the Japanese government for detaining him for 57 days. Microbiologist Takashi Okamoto says he was "unjustly" held while a Japanese court considered a U.S. extradition request. He is seeking $390,000 in compensation.
The U.S. Justice Department wants to try Okamoto on charges of stealing genetic materials from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, where he worked as an Alzheimer's researcher. But the Tokyo High Court rejected the extradition request last March (Science, 2 April, p. 31).
Meanwhile, Okamoto is fighting another lawsuit. Former friend Hiroaki Serizawa is suing Okamoto for $770,000 in legal fees and damages relating to his entanglement in Okamoto's case. Serizawa, then a research biologist at the University of Kansas Medical Center, temporarily stored Okamoto's samples and later pleaded guilty to U.S. perjury charges. Serizawa says the incident ruined his research career. Okamoto says that "there is no connection between the two cases."
