The Nagasaki city government will not appeal a recent court ruling awarding damages to a female journalist who was sexually assaulted by a senior male official in 2007, its mayor said Tuesday.
"We need to accept (the ruling), which came after our claims have been sufficiently presented," Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue said at a press conference and apologized to the victim.
The journalist welcomed the mayor's decision calling it "wise," and expressed hope that Nagasaki will be a city that respects women's rights.
On May 30, the Nagasaki District Court ruled in favor of the reporter, ordering the southwestern Japan city to pay 19.75 million yen ($150,000) in compensation.
The reporter was sexually assaulted by the now-deceased official, who was then the head of the city's atomic bomb survivors' department, in July 2007 while interviewing him for the Aug. 9 anniversary of the 1945 nuclear bombing of Nagasaki during World War II, according to the ruling.
She was later diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, hospitalized and forced to take a leave of absence. Her PTSD was aggravated by false rumors about her that another male official spread, the ruling said.
Those rumors started after the woman's attacker died in an apparent suicide in November 2007 following an internal probe into the case conducted by the city.
The plaintiff's side had demanded that the city pay around 74 million yen in the suit filed at the court in 2019, arguing the official misused his position of authority to assault the reporter. They also said the city failed to prevent additional harm.
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Nagasaki city ordered to pay reporter over sexual assault by official
