TOKYO - A Japanese man accused of taking pictures up a woman's skirt stabbed two court officers Friday as the verdict in his sex pest case was being delivered, a court spokesman and media said.

Seiji Yodogawa, 30, reportedly yelled "what a rotten justice system" as he lunged at the two officers standing in the court gallery and slashed them on their face and back with a hidden knife.

Yodogawa was immediately taken into custody on attempted murder charges, the spokesman added.

The two policemen were sent to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported.

The courtroom drama erupted just as the judge was delivering a verdict in Yodogawa's upskirting case.

He had been charged over allegations he secretly took pictures under a female train passenger's skirt in Sendai, a coastal city north of Tokyo.

The accused man had been out on bail and did not go through a body search when he turned up for the verdict in his case Friday.

The original charge against Yodogawa has been temporarily suspended since the verdict was not fully read, the court spokesman said.

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© Agence France-Presse