FUKUSHIMA: Three former members of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force were found guilty at Fukushima District Court on Tuesday of indecent assault against former colleague Rina Gonoi, 24.

Presiding Judge Takaaki Miura sentenced each of the three — Shutaro Shibuya, 31, Akito Sekine, 29, and Yusuke Kimezawa, 29 — to two years in prison, suspended for four years. The assault was a “despicable and vicious crime that ignored the personality of the victim,” Miura said.

While Gonoi had claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the three, they had denied the charges, arguing that there was no sexual intent in their actions. Gonoi was working at a GSDF camp in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, when she was assaulted.

According to the ruling, the three pushed Gonoi onto a bed and pressed the lower part of their bodies against her while dining with other members in a building at a GSDF training area in Hokkaido on the night of Aug. 3, 2021.

In the ruling, Miura said that Gonoi’s statement that the three pushed the lower part of their bodies against her over her clothing and imitated sexual activities was concrete and realistic. The judge also cited testimonies of witnesses to back her.

The judge said that the statements of each defendant were unreasonable and unreliable and that it was clear that their acts had strong sexual connotations, concluding that the crime of indecent assault can be established.

Miura also said that the three seriously embarrassed Gonoi sexually. It is natural for Gonoi to wish to punish the three as she had described at a court hearing that she continues to feel traumatized by the assault.

The GSDF’s military police sent papers on the three after Gonoi reported the assault. But the Fukushima District Public Prosecutors Office initially decided not to indict them.

The three were indicted without arrest in March this year after the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution in Koriyama ruled that the decision by the prosecutors’ office was inappropriate.

Gonoi quit the GSDF in June last year and spoke out about her experience under her real name. The GSDF recognized her claim, apologized to her and dismissed five members, including Shibuya, Sekine and Kimezawa. Before their dismissals, the three met with Gonoi in October last year and apologized.

“There are many people who were sexually assaulted but can’t raise their voices,” Gonoi told reporters near the court building after the ruling was given. “I hope society will change so that (the victims) can say ‘bad things are bad’ without holding back.”

JIJI Press