BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- A written confession by Japanese war criminal Ryusuke Sako made public on Sunday revealed the persecution of thousands of Chinese including underground anti-Japanese operators during World War II.
The document is the latest in a series published on the website of China's State Archives Administration (SAA) following denials of war crimes by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Japanese right-wing politicians.
According to Sako's confession, before his capture in August 1945, he served as section chief of Inspection Department of the Railway Security Police Forces of the "Manchukuo" puppet state and major general and brigade commander of Railway Security Forces in Jilin and Mudanjiang.
He said in the confession that they captured about 60 Chinese patriots near Huodoushan along the Jin-Gu Railway in August 1941 and sentenced two of them to death.
From December 1941 to March 1942, he ordered the arrest of a total of 39 underground anti-Japanese operators, with patriot Yang Bailong sentenced to death, Zhou Zhenhuan to life imprisonment and others to fixed-term imprisonment, according to the confession.
During his term in Jinzhou, he ordered the subordinate railway security forces to "conduct the weekly intelligence search" and "arrested a total of more than 3,000 people," according to the confession.
He admitted that he participated in planning and implementation of "public order" actions such as "arresting, suppressing," and "household and village reorganizing."
This is the latest of a total of 45 Japanese war criminal confessions the SAA plans to publish. The SAA has been issuing one a day since July 3.