Former chief public prosecutor Kitagawa released on bail in sexual assault case against subordinate - Osaka

Kentaro Kitagawa (67), who is currently on trial for quasi-forced sexual intercourse, was released on bail from the Osaka Detention Center on the 31st for sexually assaulting a retired female subordinate prosecutor who was drunk in his official residence in 2018 when he was the chief public prosecutor at the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office. This was discovered through interviews with people involved. On the 30th, the Osaka High Court rejected the prosecution's appeal and granted bail. Bail bond is 10 million yen.

Former chief prosecutor: ``Women showed favoritism and seduced me.'' Both sides' claims are in direct conflict.

The defendant had been detained for approximately two years and four months since his arrest in June 2014. At his first trial in October of the same year, he admitted to the charges, but later changed his policy to plead not guilty, and at the second trial held on October 27, the first time in two years, he ``denied and contested that the woman was unable to resist.''

According to the indictment, the defendant is said to have sexually assaulted the woman, who was drunk and unable to resist due to fear of her superior's actions, at a government residence in Osaka between midnight of September 12, 2018 and early morning of September 13, 2018.