Footage capturing the last, terrible seconds of Kenji Nagai’s life has been shown on Japanese television, horrifying a nation and raising official suspicion that the 50-year-old journalist was murdered by Burmese troops. The shaky, indistinct moments of footage appear to show Nagai, who was in a crowd of demonstrators, shoved violently to the ground by a soldier and shot dead at point-blank range.

The crowd flees, leaving behind a visibly agonised figure believed to be Nagai on his back in the street. In his right hand is a video camera.

A loud crack is audible as a soldier points his rifle at the supine figure before launching himself at the dispersing crowd of protesters.

A doctor at the Japanese Embassy in Burma confirmed that a bullet entered Nagai’s body from the lower-right side of his chest, pierced his heart and exited from his back.

The footage, Japanese experts say, contradicts the official Burmese explanation of Nagai’s death, that he was killed by a “stray bullet”.

Western politicians have also cast doubt on official estimates which suggest that only nine people have been killed in recent days. “I am afraid we believe the loss of life is far greater than is being reported,” Gordon Brown said yesterday.

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