Gunnar Morling it already works as the processJavadoc option of the UnusedImports rule is true by default.

It doesn't sound recommended though:

Optionally: it is referenced in Javadoc comments. This check is on by default, but it is considered bad practice to introduce a compile time dependency for documentation purposes only. As an example, the import java.util.Date would be considered referenced with the Javadoc comment

Unknown macro: {@link Date}

. The alternative to avoid introducing a compile time dependency would be to write the Javadoc comment as

Unknown macro: {@link java.util.Date}

.

I close the issue, feel free to use imports when you see fit.