2 Ex-Osaka Police Officers Convicted of Assault during Search

Osaka, Jan. 26 (Jiji Press)–Osaka District Court on Monday found two former Osaka prefectural police officers guilty of assaulting individuals during a site search related to a major illegal sex worker scouting group in Japan. Judge Akira Kato sentenced Chikara Tokinaga, 51, former inspector at the police in the western prefecture, to two years in prison, suspended for three years. Yusuke Sakaguchi, 33, former sergeant, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, also suspended for three years. Both had been charged with assault and cruelty by specialized public employees and had received disciplinary dismissal. “The public’s trust in police officers’ duties has been greatly lost,” Kato said. According to the ruling and other sources, the two defendants on July 15 last year searched a room in a building related to Natural, one of the country’s largest illegal sex worker scouting groups, in Osaka and assaulted three male members present. Sakaguchi injured one of them. In addition to Tokinaga and Sakaguchi, four investigators, each suspended from duty for six months, were indicted without detention for their involvement in the assault. On Friday, the prefectural police punished a total of 35 personnel, including the six involved in the assault. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]