OSAKA, Feb 17 (News On Japan) –
A feminine prosecutor who says she was sexually assaulted by a former head of the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office has filed a lawsuit in search of damages from the state and others, alleging she suffered secondary hurt because of the prosecution’s dealing with of the case.
The prosecutor, recognized as Hikari, has filed a civil swimsuit in opposition to former Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office chief Kentaro Kitagawa, who’s going through prices together with quasi-forcible sexual assault, in addition to the nationwide authorities and different events, arguing that the prosecution group failed to stop additional hurt after the incident. She is in search of about 83 million yen in damages.
Hikari says she reported the assault to authorities however felt no ample response was taken, and he or she filed the lawsuit partially to carry the prosecution group accountable for failing to stop secondary victimization. She has been recognized with post-traumatic stress dysfunction and has been unable to return to work.
Kitagawa, who was appointed head of the Osaka workplace in 2018, is accused of taking Hikari, who had been ingesting and was unable to withstand after a gathering with subordinates, to official quarters and sexually assaulting her. He initially admitted to the costs and apologized throughout earlier proceedings final yr however later claimed he believed there had been consent and pleaded not responsible, delaying the trial’s progress. More than a yr has handed since then with out the following listening to being scheduled.
Hikari says she initially threw herself into work after the incident and couldn’t inform her husband about what had occurred for a couple of yr. Her husband, talking publicly for the primary time, expressed anger over the prosecution’s response and described the pressure on their household as she struggled with sleep and relied on medicine to proceed working earlier than being recognized with PTSD about 5 years after the incident.
After mustering the braveness to report the assault to her superiors and taking depart, Hikari says she later discovered that data figuring out her because the sufferer and even private particulars about her husband had unfold not solely throughout the Osaka workplace but additionally to different prosecutors workplaces and the Justice Ministry. She says this left her remoted and feeling unsafe. It was additionally revealed {that a} deputy prosecutor who attended the identical gathering the place the alleged assault occurred had disclosed her title throughout the group. Although she requested the deputy be transferred away from her office, the request was not instantly accepted, and the deputy finally acquired solely a minor disciplinary warning.
Hikari’s representatives say emails despatched from senior Osaka prosecutors criticized her media feedback and prompt that talking out may make it tough for the workplace to supply explanations. They additionally say that regardless of her participation within the victim-participation system, she acquired little data from prosecutors concerning the progress of Kitagawa’s felony case, together with whether or not further investigations have been being performed or what points could be contested in courtroom.
Her authorized crew argues that the prosecution, which ought to have supported the sufferer, as an alternative grew to become a supply of additional misery, leaving her remoted. They recommend choices on how to reply to her might have been directed by higher-level officers throughout the group.
Hikari is asking for the institution of an impartial third-party panel to research and implement measures to stop comparable incidents, however prosecutors say they have already got harassment-response channels and have taken mandatory steps. The Justice Ministry and the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office declined to remark, citing that they’d not but acquired the lawsuit.
In the swimsuit in opposition to the state, Hikari argues that authorities failed of their responsibility to make sure her security by not stopping the unfold of her identification and by not reassigning the deputy prosecutor from the office she hoped to return to. She says she continues to hunt solely a protected working setting.
More than seven years after the alleged assault, Hikari’s battle now extends past the felony case in opposition to Kitagawa to a broader authorized problem in opposition to the prosecution group itself. Observers say the case raises questions on how establishments reply to victims who flip to the justice system for assist, and whether or not inside buildings might discourage accountability when issues come up throughout the group.
Source: KTV NEWS