A court in Japan on Tuesday sentenced three former soldiers to two years in prison each for sexually harassing a colleague in 2021, a case that has become a new symbol of the #MeToo movement in the country.
However, this first-instance verdict from the Fukushima (Northeast) court is significantly more lenient than the demands of the public prosecutor's office, which had demanded two years in prison for the three defendants.
Former soldier Rina Gonoi, 24, caused a rare national stir in Japan last year when she loudly claimed she was regularly harassed and sexually abused during her time in the army.
Faced with the inaction of her superiors and the rejection of a first court action, the young woman decided to make her situation public through social networks, an extremely rare initiative in Japan.
Her cry for help attracted widespread attention and, under pressure, the Ministry of Defense reopened the case and, after an internal investigation, admitted that Ms Gonoi had been telling the truth. Civil and criminal proceedings were then opened.
The criminal aspect of the case decided on Tuesday was against three former soldiers who were accused of forcibly imitating sexual intercourse with Ms. Gonoi in 2021 by keeping her lying down and with her legs spread while other male colleagues watched the scene watched laughing.
The court in Fukushima convicted her of indecent assault. The president of the court described the matter as a “despicable and malicious act” that denies “the dignity of the victim.”
He also found Ms Gonoi's testimony to be “credible” as her version of the facts had never changed since the trial began.
Rare media coverage in Japan
Ms. Gonoi assured in an interview with AFP in early 2023 that being forced to go public with her misfortune was a “last resort,” saying she was “desperate rather than brave.”
His revelations prompted more than a thousand other victims – men and women – to denounce harassment or sexual violence in the Japanese army.
Ms Gonoi has been praised by foreign media such as the BBC and the American weekly Time as a new Japanese figure in the #MeToo movement, which has so far received relatively little response in the archipelago.
But the whistleblower was also massively harassed and insulted on Japanese social networks after her case was published.
“Something is wrong in Japan: people attack the victims and not the perpetrators,” she complained to AFP earlier this year.
In Japan, it is very rare for victims of sexual violence to speak out publicly for fear of embarrassment, but also for fear of not being taken seriously and supported.
“Only 5% of rape victims in Japan report it to the police, who only agree to file a report about half the time, depriving others of the opportunity to take legal action,” said Machiko Osawa, a researcher for Gender inequality in Japan.
The stereotype that victims of rape or other sexual assaults are somehow “to blame” for what happens to them is still “widespread” in Japan, Ms. Osawa added in an article published in the online magazine Asia -Pacific Journal was published.
But thanks to recent cases like Ms. Gonoi's, the situation in the country is gradually changing and more victims are willing to speak out, she noted.
Last June, a law reform also clarified and expanded the definition of rape in Japan's Penal Code to make legal action on the matter easier.