The government will urge Myanmar's junta to return a video camera believed used by a slain Japanese journalist to film clashes between security forces and demonstrators in Yangon, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Monday.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2007/nn20071002a2a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='172'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Myanmar women on Monday cry for victims of the military junta's deadly crackdown on democracy advocates demonstrating in Yangon. </B> KYODO PHOTO</FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>Machimura also said the government will conduct its own autopsy on Kenji Nagai, who was believed shot by a member of security forces at extremely close range, after a local autopsy showed he did not have burns or gunpowder residue on his skin, as is usually the case when someone is shot at point-blank range.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Nagai's camera was not among his belongings returned to Japanese authorities, according to APF News Inc. President Toru Yamaji, who is in Yangon. Myanmar, however, has claimed all of Nagai's belongings have been returned. Nagai was on contract with the Tokyo-based video news provider.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The Japanese Embassy in Yangon is looking into the situation, while Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka, who is visiting Myanmar, was expected to 'strongly request' the return of the camera during meetings with Myanmar officials, Machimura said at a news conference.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Yabunaka met Monday with Myanmar's deputy foreign minister at the new capital, Naypyitaw, and demanded a full-scale probe into Nagai's slaying and punishment of those responsible for his death, according to the Japanese Embassy.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>In briefing Japanese officials on the autopsy findings, a doctor at a Yangon hospital said it is unknown if the victim was shot at point-blank range, according to Machimura. </PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'The Japanese government has to conduct a separate analysis,' he said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry held a meeting Monday to discuss how to deal with the crisis.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'The important thing now is to demand full accounting,' Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said at the meeting's outset. 'We have dispatched Deputy Foreign Minister Yabunaka, and U.N. special envoy –

Gambari is also making diplomatic efforts there. We would like to decide on further actions after seeing the Myanmar government's response."

Komura added it was "extremely regrettable" that many casualties, including Nagai, have resulted from the clashes despite Japan's requests for the Myanmar government to act calmly.

He also urged the Myanmar junta to move forward with democratization in response to the people's will as reflected in the protests, saying it would lead to an "ultimate resolution."

At the meeting, Komura, who just returned from a trip to Washington and New York, was briefed by senior ministry officials on the situation in Myanmar.

Groups protest

A group of journalists and a lawyer organization separately issued statements Monday criticizing Myanmar over the apparent execution of a Japanese journalist in Yangon last week.

The Japan Congress of Journalists demanded that Myanmar's junta accept democratization, while the Japan Lawyers Association for Freedom said the killing of Kenji Nagai, 50, is a "serious challenge to freedom of expression."

The journalist group said the Myanmar junta should realize that it is a mission of journalists to check and make sure governments are not abusing their power, and demanded that Nagai's killer be brought to justice and that the junta offer "sincere compensation" to the victim's family.

The group also urged Japan to review its diplomatic policy toward Myanmar, including stopping official development assistance, and consider imposing economic sanctions.

The lawyer group demanded that the junta halt its forceful suppression and resolve the unrest through dialogue.