(Update) Japan Govt Ordered to Pay over Sexual Assault by Ex-Lawmaker Aide

   Tokyo, April 24 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered the Japanese government to pay 4.4 million yen in damages to a female former journalist who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a now-deceased secretary to a member of the Diet, Japan's parliament.
   Presiding Judge Kokoro Nakamura recognized sexual assault and found that it occurred in the course of the assailant's duties as a state-paid secretary.
   The state redress law stipulates that the state is liable for damage caused illegally to others by a national civil servant in the course of their duties. The former aide to Kiyoshi Ueda, a member of the House of Councillors, the upper Diet chamber, was a government-paid secretary, making him a national civil servant.
   The court battle centered around whether the ex-secretary's acts amounted to sexual assault and whether they were conducted during his duties. The victim had demanded 11 million yen in damages.
   Nakamura found that the former journalist was indecently assaulted by the ex-secretary in a taxi and elsewhere in March 2020, while returning from a meeting on COVID-19 measures. The judge also said the victim was sexually assaulted three days later in a hotel after the ex-secretary called her and made her drink alcohol.

(2025/04/24-19:12)