Ex-Senior Prosecutor Sought to Cover Up Sexual Assault, Victim Says

   Tokyo, May 22 (Jiji Press)--The victim of an alleged sexual assault by a former senior prosecutor in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, has said that the offender asked her in a letter not to report the incident.
   The victim, also a prosecutor, held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday and revealed a handwritten letter from Kentaro Kitagawa, former head of the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office.
   In the letter, dated Oct. 28, 2019, about a year after the incident, Kitagawa said, "I ask you not to report (the incident) at the cost of my life."
   While apologizing to the victim, he wrote, "If the incident becomes public, I would have no choice but to kill myself." He also argued that the "big scandal" would certainly provoke harsh criticism of the prosecution organization.
   "He intimidated me and tried to silence me while using the (prosecution) organization and fellow staff as hostages," the female prosecutor said at the press conference. "I was too scared to report (the incident)."

(2025/05/22-18:01)

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