3 ex-soldiers in Japan found guilty of sexual assault in landmark case

Shutaro Shibuya, Akito Sekine and Yusuke Kimezawa received suspended jail terms for their ‘forced indecency’ on Rina Gonoi, a woman soldier, in 2021

The verdict is a victory for Gonoi in a case that drew international attention and challenged taboos in a traditional, male-dominated society

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Rina Gonoi (left), a former member of Japan’s Ground Self-Defence Force, arrives on Tuesday at the Fukushima District Court, which found three ex-soldiers guilty of sexually assaulting her. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:02pm, 12 Dec 2023

A court in Japan on Tuesday found three ex-soldiers guilty of sexually assaulting a woman colleague and gave them suspended jail terms, bringing to a close a rare case for a country where victims rarely come forward to speak out against abuse.

The court in Fukushima sentenced Shutaro Shibuya, Akito Sekine and Yusuke Kimezawa to two years in prison, but suspended for four years, for their “forced indecency” on Rina Gonoi during a military drill in 2021.

In a socially conservative country where the #MeToo movement failed to gain much ground, Gonoi, 24, took to YouTube last year to share her account after an internal military investigation was dropped for lack of evidence.

Gonoi poses for a photograph during an interview in February. She described her decision to go public about her case as “desperate rather than brave”. Photo: AFP

The public attention from the viral video and a petition signed by more than 100,000 people forced the defence ministry to acknowledge the assault and apologise.

This March, prosecutors reversed an earlier decision and charged the three men, who have been dismissed from the military and could have faced two years in prison.

Gonoi, who was in court on Tuesday for the verdict, said in an interview in February that her decision to go public was “desperate rather than brave”.

She said that after fulfilling a childhood dream and enlisting in 2020, she experienced daily harassment.