Watch a Japanese woman's journey to fight lewd behavior in the military
M.AMINUR RAHMAN
A Japanese court on Tuesday found three ex-soldiers indisputably responsible for rape after a high-profile case that exposed a borderless culture of provocation in the military, public broadcaster NHK revealed.
The Fukushima Regional Court has ruled that three men committed indecent assault against Rina Gonoi, a former female subordinate of the Japan Self-Preservation Forces (JSDF), who fought for their trial through the courts and through virtual entertainment.
The court sentenced the three to two years in prison with suspended sentences, NHK detailed, which could allow them to avoid prison time if they do not commit any wrongdoing for the next two years.
According to NHK, the three men used hand-to-hand fighting techniques to push Gonoi and take part in the obscene follow-up. They admitted they killed him, but denied taking part in the riots, NHK detailed. All three pleaded not guilty.
Gonoi said he endured consistent physical and verbal sexual abuse for over a year while serving in the JSDF and vowed to deal with his stalkers when he left the military in June 2022.
Experts seemed reluctant to believe him at first. When he detailed the alleged abuse to military experts, two tests were canceled, yet both were dropped due to an absence of evidence—prompting him to take the fight to web-based entertainment.
"I needed to help others who were in similar physical trouble (in the JSDF). Regarding criminals, I needed a conciliatory feeling and for them to accept what they had done; to prevent others from doing what I had done. Through; this That's why I'm standing up," Gono told CNN in July.
Examiners returned a test showing that he had acquired daily physical and verbal abuse between the end of 2020 and August 2021, as directed by Gonoye's legal advisers. The Security Service offered an unusual confirmation and open admission, with five servicemen dishonorably pardoned and four others denied, as indicated by NHK.
Ground Self-Protection Power Chief of Staff Yoshihide Yoshida additionally made an unusual confirmation in September 2022, saying: "For the benefit of the Ground Self-Preservation Power, I would like to express my deepest condolences to Ms. Gonoi, who has been inactive for quite some time. . I'm so heartbroken."
However, this was not enough for Gonoi, and he sought both criminal and general cases in court, including documented claims against government authorities and his alleged attackers.
A report sent by the Security Service in August found that it had settled into a culture of provocation and fear within Japan's military. It assessed 1,325 reports of badgering, specific to victims who said they felt "misled" or "trashed" by advocates. A few said they did not receive any response from the JSDF in view of their provocation, even after meeting the guides.
Japanese Safeguard priest Yasukazu Hamada said at the time that "exceptional measures" were needed and that change was warranted.
standing up
As a child, Gonoi said he considered JSDF men as legends. She grew up needing to resemble them after female officials - especially - played the hero after the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake tremors and tsunami that crushed her old neighborhood in Higashi-Matsushima in Japan's northern Miyagi Prefecture.
A few years after the incident, it would be a presentation at a JSDF station in Fukushima — another area that was wiped out by the 2011 disaster — where he told CNN that he had largely experienced inappropriate behavior.
"They would comment on my body and the size of my chest. Or on the other hand they would rely on me in the foyer and hug me suddenly on the way. Something like that happened every day," Gonoi recalled of his time at the station.
The straw that broke the camel's back came in August 2021, when Gonoi said he was stuck on a quarter floor because some senior male officers had sex again. It was this episode that prompted her to report her attackers.
Nevertheless, Gonoi's cases were excused and no action was taken within the JSDF.
"They didn't admit at first that they did anything wrong. They tried to hide what I gave, but at that point a re-examination was requested. That's what they admitted is what I wanted. It went through," Gonoi said.
An external examination was also ruled out due to "absence of evidence" as none of the male workforce who witnessed her rape would come forward.
It was only by opening up to the world that Ganayi had the option to pressure the JSDF to reexamine.
The case reached its most significant point, when Japan's top state leader, Fumio Kishida, told a parliamentary gathering last October that he realized that obscenity cases were being handled inappropriately by self-defense powers and security services.
He proved that public authorities and guard services are focused on killing all kinds of badgering.
"We know that the perpetrators of the obscenity case are planned to be strictly rejected. We are likewise leading an exceptional watchdog test to completely isolate the provocation. We are focused on killing all forms of badgering," he said.
It's an unusual move in a country where rape survivors can face backlash for raising their voices. However, it paid off, as Japan's Security Service eventually sent a comprehensive investigation into misconduct throughout the JSDF.
news & photo: CNN
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