Photo/Illutration Supporters for the plaintiff hoist signs welcoming the Nagasaki District Court’s decision on May 30 to order the city government to pay compensation to the victim of sexual violence. (Tetsuya Ishikura)

NAGASAKI--A court ordered the Nagasaki city government to pay 19.75 million yen ($156,000) in compensation to a reporter who became the target of a smear campaign after an official sexually assaulted her in 2007.

The Nagasaki District Court on May 30 acknowledged the woman was sexually assaulted, suffered from trauma and had her character defamed following the city government’s “inadequate” response to the attack.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff sought about 74.77 million yen in compensation and an apology from the municipal government.

According to court documents, the plaintiff said she was sexually assaulted in July 2007 when she met a municipal department chief who was overseeing the Aug. 9 ceremony marking the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki for an interview.

In an internal investigation by the city government in October that year, the official said that he and the reporter had engaged in a sexual act, but he believed it was “consensual.”

The official committed suicide in the following month.

Lawyers representing the reporter argued in the lawsuit that official had abused his senior position, noting that the attack occurred when she met him for the interview.

They also said the city government’s inadequate response was underscored by another senior city official who circulated a groundless rumor about the reporter.

The plaintiff’s honor was damaged, and she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, forcing her to take a leave of absence from her job, the lawyers said.

Representatives for the city said the department chief did not abuse his position, arguing that he and the reporter had met after-hours for the interview.

As for the rumor, the municipal government contended that city officials had actually put measures in place to prevent secondary damage to the reporter.

In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun before the court ruling, the plaintiff said, “I want to drive home the point that abusing a professional position should never be tolerated.”

She recalled being unable to write the story after the assault, which she said was also an attack on press freedom and the public’s right to know.

“What was violated was not just my body,” she said.

Her road for some semblance of justice was a long and painful one.

She took a leave from her job in September 2007 after developing PTSD.

In 2008, she demanded the municipal government set up an independent panel to investigate her case, only to be rejected.

The following year, she took her case to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

After a five-year investigation, the federation issued a recommendation in 2014 that the city government offer an apology to the woman and draw up measures to prevent a recurrence.

The Nagasaki municipal government refused to accept the recommendation.

The woman sued the city government in April 2019.

She said that she was later identified on the internet, and all sorts of misinformation about her circulated online.

A weekly magazine carried the initial false rumor about her, adding to her suffering. Her health deteriorated, and she was repeatedly hospitalized.

The woman said sexual assault victims have to deal not only with the physical and mental damage from the attack but also with prejudices and criticism that they were somehow responsible for failing to avoid the attack.

She returned to her workplace in October 2009, but not as a reporter because she said the assault made it extremely difficult for her to meet others.

But she hopes to return to her reporting job some day.

“I wanted to show others that I am fighting a lawsuit and still seeking fulfillment in life, rather than living ‘small’ after going through a traumatic experience,” she said.

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