TOKYO (AFP): A Japanese prosecutor who took the unusual step of publicly accusing her boss of rape said Monday her mental health had deteriorated in her quest for justice.
Very few women in Japan speak out about sexual assault but Hikari (not her real name) came forward in 2024 to accuse Osaka's then top prosecutor of raping her six years earlier.
Kentaro Kitagawa, head of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office, was arrested and admitted the assault but later withdrew his statement, saying the sex was consensual.
Since retired, he remains in custody awaiting trial.
Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo on Monday on condition that she is not named and her face is not shown, Hikari said the stress was difficult to bear.
"My doctor said that the longer I confront (the government) the more my mental state deteriorates, becoming life-threatening," she said.
"I barely manage to keep going through my fight, but every day I find myself thinking about dying," she said.
She said she had made a request to the justice ministry that a third-party panel be set up to investigate cases involving others in the legal profession, and to implement measures to prevent harassment.
"I am certain that there are other instances of harassment and additional offences besides those involving me," Hikari said.
She added that she had "no choice but to resign" if her request was not met by the end of March.
Before filing her case in 2024, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Last month, Hikari also filed a civil lawsuit against the government, Kitagawa and other related parties seeking damage totalling 83 million yen (around $530,000).
She says people close to Kitagawa, especially an assistant prosecutor -- whom Hikari says is his lover -- spread malicious rumours.
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.
She has been on leave ever since and has been seeing a psychiatrist.
Hikari filed a criminal complaint against the assistant prosecutor in 2025, but the Osaka prosecutor's office dismissed it, only imposing a reprimand.
Hikari has said she was not used to drinking strong alcohol and lost her memory halfway through an office gathering in 2018.
The next thing she knew, she said, she was in Kitagawa's home and was being raped.
Hikari kept quiet after it happened, as Kitagawa had pleaded with her not to go public, saying it would be a damaging scandal for the prosecutor's office, she said, and even threatened to kill himself. -- AFP
