The Perverted Lives of the Rich and Famous > Japanese Prosecutor Accuses Osaka Head Prosecutor of Rape

 

'My boss raped me': Japanese prosecutor's

long fight for justice

Asia / Pacific

Hikari kept quiet for years about her alleged assault by her boss, Osaka's former chief prosecutor. Finally, after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and taking time off work, she filed her case in June 2024.

Very few women in Japan speak out about rape, and Hikari, too, kept quiet for years about her alleged assault by her boss, Osaka's former chief prosecutor.

However, Hikari (not her real name) finally dared to take the step, which came at great cost to her career – she is also a prosecutor – and her personal life. She does not regret it.

"My life has stopped since the assault," Hikari told AFP in an emotional interview.

"My husband was crying the other day, in a voice that I have never heard in my life, punching the wall and saying he cannot take it anymore," she said.

Hikari alleges that Kentaro Kitagawa, then head of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office, raped her following an after-work party in 2018.

Kitagawa was not arrested until June 2024, later charged and his name made public.

He told an initial hearing in October that he had "no intention of fighting the case" and apologised for "causing serious and severe harm to the victim".

However, he changed his tune in December when his lawyer told reporters that Kitagawa "did not recognise that (Hikari) was unable to resist ... and believed that she had consented".

Kitagawa, according to one media report, changed his mind after Hikari held a news conference and alleged that the prosecution had leaked information from the investigation.

'A nightmare'

Hikari says she was not used to drinking strong alcohol and lost her memory halfway through the office gathering.

Colleagues told prosecutors that she got into a taxi to go home and that Kitagawa forced himself into the vehicle.

The next thing she knew, she said, she was in Kitagawa's home and was being raped.

"It was like I was having a terrible nightmare," Hikari told AFP. "I couldn't resist because I was terrified that I could be killed."

A general view of the government building housing the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office in Osaka. © Richard A. Brooks, AFP

Hikari said she kept quiet after it happened.

Kitagawa had pleaded with her not to go public, saying that it would be a damaging scandal for the prosecutor's office, she said, and even threatened suicide.

He retired about a year after the incident but Hikari felt he still had influence over some officials and could hurt her career.

"He was a very influential and powerful man, so I was afraid that no one would listen to me if I complained about the assault," she said.

'Safe environment'

The trauma still gnawed away at her.

Finally, after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and taking time off work, she filed her case in 2024.

"In order to live, to get back to a peaceful life with my family, and to get back to my job as a prosecutor, I felt that (Kitagawa) needed to be brought to justice," she said.

"I just want to work in a safe environment ... I want to save victims through work," she said.

A petition submitted in January by Hikari's supporters with nearly 59,000 signatures calling for a thorough investigation into the rape allegations. © Richard A. Brooks, AFP

She returned to work in September, only to find that malicious rumours were circulating.

These included identifying her as the victim – her name had not been made public – and that she had been attracted to Kitagawa, consented to sex and was not drunk.

Hikari believes the rumours were spread by people close to Kitagawa.

She has been on leave ever since.

She said her husband, with whom she has a child, is her biggest supporter but that he "is struggling with how to save me".

Face hidden

Kitagawa's lawyer has not responded to an AFP request for comment sent on June 30.

Hikari hasn't revealed her name and has held news conferences and interviews on the condition that her face won't be shown.

A handful of other victims of similar crimes have gone further. These include journalist Shiori Ito, who won a landmark civil case against a prominent TV reporter she accused of raping her.

In 2021, Rina Gonoi accused fellow soldiers of sexual assault and three of them were later given suspended sentences.

Both women were praised for their bravery in coming forward but also received a barrage of online hate.

The latest government figures show that 8.1 per cent of Japanese women, or one in 12.5, have had non-consensual sex.

Very few women in Japan speak out about rape, and Hikari, too, kept quiet for years about her alleged assault. © Richard A. Brooks, AFP

Just 1.5 percent contacted police and 55.4 percent stayed silent.

However, Seisen University Professor Kaori Okamoto said that now "the idea that it's okay to talk about sexual violence is spreading".

Okamoto, a clinical psychologist who has been helping victims, said the number of people consulting support centres is also increasing.

Even though there is no major #MeToo movement like those in the United States and South Korea, modest-sized rallies against sexual violence sprang up across Japan after several alleged rapists were acquitted in 2019.

Law changes have also helped. The definition of rape was broadened in 2017, while the need for victims to prove violence or intimidation was removed in 2023.

"In the past, many thought that even if you report the assault, you're only going to get hurt and you're not going to catch the culprit," Okamoto said.

Career ladder

Hikari said sexual harassment is "rampant" in the Japanese legal world.

Public records show that 21 people at prosecutors' offices have been disciplined for sexual violence in the past 16 years, she said.

"Officials feel they can do anything as they climb the career ladder," Hikari said.

"The prosecutors have no shareholders, no sponsors and no external pressure," she said.

Her supporters submitted a petition to the government in January calling for a long prison sentence for Kitagawa and strict punishment for the assistant prosecutor.

The petition has more than 68,000 signatures.

"The reason I still continue to speak publicly is because I want to keep saying that the victims are not at fault," Hikari said.

"I don't know your faces, but at least I want to say that I'm by your side."

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

 

France: #MeToo investigation condemns 'endemic' sexual violence

Issued on: 09/04/2025 - 17:54Modified: 09/04/2025 - 18:06

To France now, where MPs have criticised "endemic" abuse in the entertainment sector after a months-long inquiry into sexual violence that saw stars and other actors reveal instances of bullying and assault. FRANCE 24's journalist, Emerald Maxwell has more.

#MeToo Japan > Journo accuses TV exec. of rape - rape redefined in Japan

 

#MeToo Japan: Shiori Ito’s courageous campaign for justice

Culture

Issued on: 14/03/2025 - 17:36

12:01 min

Journalist and filmmaker Shiori Ito has laid her life bare in “Black Box Diaries”, as the film documents her battle for justice after she accused a prominent TV executive of raping her in 2015. 

Following its nomination for an Academy Award, the film has come to worldwide attention; the culture of silence in Japan surrounding sexual assault has been under scrutiny. 

Shiori joins us to talk about being the first Japanese director to be nominated for best documentary at the Oscars and about how her persistent campaigning has resulted in the legal definition of rape being revised in her home country. 

We discuss why Japan has not yet had its MeToo moment and why telling complex stories on screen has been a career-defining experience for her. 

By:

Olivia SALAZAR-WINSPEAR

Laura DI BIASIO

Magali FAURE

Clémence DELFAURE

Solène CLAUSSE

Clémence LEBOUCHER

=====================================================================================

The Perverted Lives of the Rich and Famous > Weinstein Rape Conviction Overturned - New Trial

 

Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction

overturned from #MeToo trial

By Michael Sisak  The Associated Press

Posted April 25, 2024 6:26 am

 Updated April 25, 2024 6:40 am

 5 min read

New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with “egregious” improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.

“We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes,” the court’s 4-3 decision said. “The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial.”

The state Court of Appeals ruling reopens a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures — an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein. His accusers could again be forced to relive their traumas on the witness stand.

The court’s majority said “it is an abuse of judicial discretion to permit untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant’s character but sheds no light on their credibility as related to the criminal charges lodged against them.”

In a stinging dissent, Judge Madeline Singas wrote that the majority was “whitewashing the facts to conform to a he-said/she-said narrative,” and said the Court of Appeals was continuing a “disturbing trend of overturning juries’ guilty verdicts in cases involving sexual violence.”

0:33

Harvey Weinstein extradited to California to face further sexual assault charges

“The majority’s determination perpetuates outdated notions of sexual violence and allows predators to escape accountability,” Singas wrote.

Weinstein, 72, has been serving a 23-year sentence in a New York prison following his conviction on charges of criminal sex act for forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013.

He will remain imprisoned because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Weinstein was acquitted in Los Angeles on charges involving one of the women who testified in New York.

Weinstein’s lawyers argued Judge James Burke’s rulings in favor of the prosecution turned the trial into “1-800-GET-HARVEY.”

The reversal of Weinstein’s conviction is the second major #MeToo setback in the last two years, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a Pennsylvania court decision to throw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.

Weinstein’s conviction stood for more than four years, heralded by activists and advocates as a milestone achievement, but dissected just as quickly by his lawyers and, later, the Court of Appeals when it heard arguments on the matter in February.

4:46

Peter Nygard’s son alleges fashion mogul had ‘more accusations than Epstein, Weinstein and Cosby combined’

Allegations against Weinstein, the once powerful and feared studio boss behind such Oscar winners as “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” ushered in the #MeToo movement. Dozens of women came forward to accuse Weinstein, including famous actresses such as Ashley Judd and Uma Thurman. His New York trial drew intense publicity, with protesters chanting “rapist” outside the courthouse.

Weinstein is incarcerated in New York at the Mohawk Correctional Facility, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Albany.

He maintains his innocence. He contends any sexual activity was consensual.

Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala argued before the appeals court in February that Burke swayed the trial by allowing three women to testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case and by giving prosecutors permission to confront Weinstein, if he had testified, about his long history of brutish behavior.

Aidala argued the extra testimony went beyond the normally allowable details about motive, opportunity, intent or a common scheme or plan, and essentially put Weinstein on trial for crimes he wasn’t charged with.

Weinstein wanted to testify, but opted not to because Burke’s ruling would’ve meant answering questions about more than two-dozen alleged acts of misbehavior dating back four decades, Aidala said. They included fighting with his movie producer brother, flipping over a table in anger and snapping at waiters and yelling at his assistants.

“We had a defendant who was begging to tell his side of the story. It’s a he said, she said case, and he’s saying ‘that’s not how it happened. Let me tell you how I did it,’” Aidala argued. Instead, the jurors heard evidence of Weinstein’s prior bad behavior that “had nothing to do with truth and veracity. It was all ‘he’s a bad guy.’”

3:10

‘This is what justice looks like’: Gloria Allred commends Weinstein’s 23-year sentence

Aidala also took issue with Burke’s refusal to remove a juror who had written a novel involving predatory older men, a topic the defense lawyer argued too closely resembled the issues in Weinstein’s case.

A lawyer for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, argued that the judge‘s rulings were proper and that the extra evidence and testimony he allowed was important to provide jurors context about Weinstein’s behavior and the way he interacted with women.

“Defendant’s argument was that they had a consensual and loving relationship both before and after the charged incidents,” Appellate Chief Steven Wu argued, referring to one of the women Weinstein was charged with assaulting. The additional testimony “just rebutted that characterization completely.”

Wu said Weinstein’s acquittal on the most serious charges — two counts of predatory sexual assault and a first-degree rape charge involving actor Annabella Sciorra’s allegations of a mid-1990s rape — showed jurors were paying attention and they were not confused or overwhelmed by the additional testimony.

2:57

Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape, sexual assault by jury in LA

The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named; Sciorra has spoken publicly about her allegations.

The Court of Appeals agreed last year to take Weinstein’s case after an intermediate appeals court upheld his conviction. Prior to their ruling, judges on the lower appellate court had raised doubts about Burke’s conduct during oral arguments. One observed that Burke had let prosecutors pile on with “incredibly prejudicial testimony” from additional witnesses.

Burke’s term expired at the end of 2022. He was not reappointed and is no longer a judge.

In appealing, Weinstein’s lawyers sought a new trial, but only for the criminal sexual act charge. They argued the rape charge could not be retried because it involves alleged conduct outside the statute of limitations.

The Perverted Lives of the Rich and Famous > Russell Brand Accused of Rape, Sex Assault, etc.; Rubiales restrained

..

Caution: disturbing graphic depictions below.

Russell Brand accused of raping, sexually assaulting 4 women —

including 16-year-old he called ‘the child’: report

By Isabel Vincent and Jacob Geanous

Published 6:35 p.m. ET

NYPost

Russell Brand was accused of raping, sexually assaulting and abusing four women over the course of seven years — and one victim was a 16-year-old he allegedly called “the child,” according to a bombshell report the British actor and comedian denied prior to its release.

The allegations against the 48-year-old stem from the height of his fame between 2006 and 2013, according to a joint investigation published Saturday by The Sunday Times of London, the Times of London and Channel 4 Dispatches.

One woman, identified as “Nadia,” alleged the “Get Him to the Greek” star raped her against the wall of his Los Angeles home in 2012 and was treated at a rape crisis center the same day, according to medical records cited by the outlets.

The woman later told Brand that she had been scared and felt taken advantage of, telling him, “When a girl [says] NO, it means no” — to which he responded he was “very sorry,” text messages cited by the report show.

Another accuser who was 16 at the time alleged that the then-31-year-old called her “the child” and assaulted her during their “emotionally abusive and controlling” three-month relationship, according to the report.

The woman — who is known only by the pseudonym “Alice” and was above the age of consent in the UK — said Brand was “grooming” her, an allegation a relative backed up to the Sunday Times during its investigation.

Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse, according to a joint investigation

by the Sunday Times of London, the Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.

Russell Brand/Twitter

Alice said he told her to read Vladimir Nabokov’s salacious “Lolita,” save his number in her phone under the name “Carly” and even gave her “scripts” to lie to her parents.

“It was isolating,” she told the outlet.

Brand allegedly even sent a car to take Alice out of school and to his home, she said. On one occasion, his driver told her not to go into the comedian’s home.

“‘Please. I’m asking you not to go in there. You could be my little girl, and I would want someone to do this for her,” Alice recalled the chauffer saying.

Alice also accused Brand of once making her choke when he “forced his penis down her throat” and she allegedly punched him in the stomach to get him to stop.

‘Like the devil’

Allegations from Brand’s other accusers included a woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her at his property in West Hollywood after they met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, according to the Times of London.

The woman, identified as “Phoebe,” said at one point she realized other staff left and she was alone with Brand.

She realized Brand wanted to have sex with her and eventually trapped her in a bedroom and chased her around before pinning her down and assaulting her. 

“I saw something come over his eyes, I swear to God, like, black, his eyes had no more color, they were black, like the devil,” she recalled to the outlet. “Like a different person literally entered his body.”

What are the odds that drugs are a major player in these incidents?

“I think he had his hands down my trousers but I was fighting so hard and I was screaming so hard, hoping that I could get through somehow,” she continued, “I don’t know what the actual definition of ‘sexual assault’ is, but it feels like that. He didn’t rape me.”

The star became “super angry” but eventually stopped.

Brand’s ex-girlfriend Jordan Martin, made similar accusations in her self-published 2014 book “kNot: Entanglement with a Celebrity.” She claims he sexually assaulted her at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester, England, after becoming angry that she had spoken to an ex-boyfriend.

Martin alleged the incident occurred during their six-month relationship that began in February 2007. 

There is more to this story - 

‘Coordinated attack’

=====================================================================================

Judge imposes restraining order against Luis Rubiales over

World Cup kiss

By Doug Cunningham

 

A judge Friday imposed a restraining order on ex-Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales.

He faces sexual assault charges for kissing player Jennifer Hermoso on the lips after Spain won

the World Cup in August 25. Photo by Eidan Rubio/EPA-EFE/RFEF

Sept. 15 (UPI) -- A judge on Friday imposed a restraining order on Luis Rubiales, Spain's ex-soccer federation president, for kissing player Jennifer Hermoso.

Judge Francisco de Jorge approved the restraining order that bars Rubiales from coming within 600 feet of Hermoso and from contacting her during the investigation into the incident that saw Rubiales grab Hermoso's head and kiss her on the lips after Spain's World Cup victory in August.

Rubiales in court Friday denied sexually assaulting Hermoso as the judge questioned him for 45 minutes.

Hermoso's lawyer Carla Vall, however, asserted that the kiss was not consensual after the judge approved the restraining order.

"As you can imagine, Jenni is deeply affected by these events -- by the humiliating action she endured in the stadium, which has tarnished a sporting landmark. We can continue to affirm that the kiss was not consented to, which is what we have said from the very beginning," Vall said.

A prosecutor last week filed a sexual assault complaint against Rubiales and Hermoso filed a criminal complaint against against the Spanish soccer head, who resigned on Sept. 10.

Rubiales said in a resignation statement he will work to clear his name.

"I have faith in the truth and I will do everything in my power to make it prevail," he said. "I will defend my honor. I will defend my innocence. I have faith in the future. I have faith in the truth."