Japan Govt Ordered to Pay Damages over SDF Officer’s Suicide

Sapporo, Jan. 9 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese district court on Friday ordered the government to pay 1.1 million yen in damages to the mother of a Ground Self-Defense Force member who committed suicide in 2012. In the lawsuit filed with Sapporo District Court in Sapporo, the capital of the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido, the mother of the GSDF member, Takumi Kawashima, then 19, and three other bereaved relatives demanded a total of about 100 million yen in damages from the Japanese government. They claimed that Kawashima, who was stationed at the GSDF’s Camp Shiraoi in the Hokkaido town of Shiraoi, took his life as appropriate measures were not taken against bullying mainly by one older officer. Presiding Judge Shusei Moriyama at the court turned down the claim of bullying while acknowledging the government’s responsibility over the mental distress Kawashima experienced, ordering the damages payment to his mother. The damages claims by the other three were dismissed. The plaintiffs plan to appeal against the ruling. According to the ruling, Kawashima committed suicide at Camp Shiraoi in October 2012. The plaintiffs claimed that he had been verbally abused, being told to “die” and “quit,” and physically assaulted. Moriyama said, however, that “there is no clear evidence to determine” that bullying had actually occurred. Still, the judge acknowledged the government’s partial responsibility for failing to fulfill its obligation of sharing necessary information, such as instructing older officers not to yell loudly, although Kawashima was suffering from insomnia and his condition was worsening due to accumulated mental distress from interactions with them. In response to the ruling, Kazutomo Idogawa, chief of the GSDF’s Northern Army, said, “We think that the government’s argument was not understood by the court.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]