![]() Regardless of the outcome of those lawsuits, Gonoi believes there is a bigger battle to be fought against what she sees as a culture of sexual harassment in the male-dominated military. The state has responded saying harassment “cannot be tolerated” but has not yet commented on Gonoi’s lawsuit. In the civil case, four of the five accused recently denied sexual abuse, while a fifth admitted the accusation. Public prosecutors in Japan have not released information regarding the case and did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. In the criminal case, to date, neither the defendants nor their lawyers have issued statements. At the start of the year she filed lawsuits against the government and her alleged assailants – three of whom were indicted in March on charges of sexually assaulting Gonoi. Gonoi also said she received in-person apologies from several officers.īut this, she said, is not enough, and she is now pursuing both criminal and civil cases in the courts. I am very sorry.”įive servicemen were also dishonorably dismissed and four others punished last December, according to NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster. Gonoi, who has been suffering for a long time. The findings resulted in a groundbreaking moment: a rare admission of guilt and a public apology from Japan’s Ministry of Defense, as Ground Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Yoshihide Yoshida bowed deeply, saying: “On behalf of the Ground Self-Defense Forces, I would like to express my deepest apologies to Ms. Gonoi’s refusal to be silenced eventually prompted a wide-sweeping probe into sexual harassment across the JSDF and prosecutors reopened an investigation that found she had endured physical and verbal sexual harassment daily between autumn 2020 and August 2021, according to Gonoi’s defense team. Now, she teaches other women how to defend themselves. Gonoi wanted to be a professional judoka as a child. As for the perpetrators, I wanted an apology and for them to admit to what they had done I wanted to prevent others from going through what I went through that’s why I spoke out,” she said. “I wanted to help other people who had also been sexually harassed (in the JSDF). When they ignored her, she took her battle to social media – a rare move in a country where sexual assault survivors can face backlash for raising their voices. When she reported the alleged abuse to military authorities, two investigations were launched, but both were dropped on grounds of lack of evidence. ![]() When Gonoi served in Japan’s Self-Defense Force (JSDF), she says she endured physical and verbal sexual abuse on a daily basis for more than a year, and vowed when she left the force in June 2022 after two years’ service that she would bring her tormentors to justice.Īt first, authorities seemed unwilling to believe her. As a former soldier, as a judo practitioner, and as a woman battling on behalf of all women to bring those who sexually abused her to account. ![]()
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