Explained | How Japanese woman ex-soldier got justice after sexual assault by male colleagues

Three former Japanese soldiers were found guilty on Tuesday (Dec 12) of sexually assaulting a female soldier and have been handed jail sentences, albeit suspended. The survivor, Rina Gonoi, has broken many taboos in acountry where survivors of sexual assaults are not willing to go public. The fact that the 'MeToo' movement has not gained momentum in Japan as compared to other countries is considered somewhat an indication of this.

Rina Gonoi, 24, broke the norms and spoke publicly about her horrific ordeal.

Warning: The following text contains descriptive information about the incident and is aimed at conveying gravity of Rina Gonoi's situation and her subsequent fight for justice.

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The incident and initial denial of justice

The assault on Rina Gonoi took place in August 2021. Three soldiers pinned Rina Gonoi to a bed, spread her legs and pressed their crotches against her alternately and repeatedly.

She previously told the media that about a dozen other soldiers were present but no one stopped the three soldiers from sexually assaulting her. Some of the onlookers were even laughing, she said.

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Rina Gonoi reported the sexual assault up the chain of command but her complaint was dismissed as she could not produce any witness.

The three men were later sent to prosecutors by Ground Self-Defence Force (GSDF) police unit but the case was eventually dropped as they could not find any evidence. Rina Gonoi left the army.

The YouTube video

Rina Gonoi made a video and posted it on YouTube describing what she went through. Her story struck a cord and the video went viral. Rina Gonoi was able to gather more than 100,000 signatures for a petition that asked Japan's defence ministry to open an investigation into her case.

This led to the ministry issuing an apology and a rare investigation revealed there were more than 100 complaints of harassment within the ministry itself, reported BBC.

The threats and abuse

Now that the accused in Rina Gonoi's case have been held guilty, it is quite tempting to view the entire episode as one inspirational story. It indeed is, but it also needs to be noted that to get justice, Rina Gonoi had to walk on a path replete with obstacles at every step.

When her video went viral and her story reached a large number of people in Japan, Rina Gonoi was subjected to online abuse and even got death threats.

"Some [online] would say 'you are ugly'...[others] would say 'are you actually a man?" she said as quoted by BBC.

"When I was collecting signatures for the petition, I got a threatening email saying, 'I'll kill you if you go any further'."

When she was in the army, she said she was harassed "on a daily basis" even before the August 2021 incident. Her male colleagues would grope her or rub against her. Such behaviour from male colleagues was a regular occurrence for Rina Gonoi who joined the army because it was her childhood dream.

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Shutaro Shibuya, Akito Sekine and Yusuke Kimezawa, the three former soldiers responsible for the sexual assault have been sentenced to two-year suspended jail terms.

She expressed satisfaction as the trio was punished.

"What they did should not be forgiven even if they say it was only to get a laugh out of it. The verdict clearly ruled that it was a crime. I want them to face up to what they did and think about it," Gonoi said outside the court as quoted by AFP.

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"There are many people out there who cannot speak up, who cannot fight over assaults like this. I was able to make the precedent," she told reporters.

"It was not necessarily a heavy sentence that I wanted to see. It was that they truly understand it was a crime, sexual violence, not something casual as they claimed."

On Tuesday, Judge Takaki Miura said that "shaking one's hip between the legs of the victim has strong sexual meaning" and "ignores the victim's dignity" and is a "despicable and malicious act".

Strengthening of the law

Roni Gonoi's is thefirst high-profile case after Japan strengthened laws to tackle the issue of rape inJune this year. The laws have redefined rape and made the definition incorporate a greater number of situations. A requirement for the victim to prove they had resisted their attacker has been removed.

In Japan, survivors of sexual assaults are rarely willing to talk publicly.

"While there are still areas of improvement (within society), today's ruling is a welcome sign that the voices of survivors of sexual violence in Japan will not go unheard and that accountability for such rights abuses is possible," said Teppei Kasai, Asia programme officer for Human Rights Watch as quoted by AFP.

Kasai reportedly said last week that a 2021 government survey revealed that only about six per cent of assault victims both, men and women actually went to the police.

(With inputs from agencies)