Since the incident came to light, there have been reports about Saito’s possible sex addiction and large debt problems. A woman who was assaulted by Saito on the location bus also released a statement through her lawyer. The “search for the victim” has continued since the news was reported, creating a situation that could lead to a second rape. This series of heated reports are merely scattered bits of information, but the details of the underlying incidents have not yet been made clear. Lawyer Sugiyama Daisuke, who handles many criminal cases, says that this heated reporting should be looked at objectively, asking, “Haven’t they learned their lesson from the Hakamada case?” ■Lawyer: “There is a high risk of a false accusation.” “The public seems to only be able to imagine a false accusation in cases where there was a completely different culprit, but I would like to point out that even in this case, where if there was consent it would just be a scandal, but if there was no consent it would be a crime, there is a high risk of a false accusation. “There’s no need to make a fuss when there’s no evidence yet,” said lawyer Sugiyama. In Japan, it has long been a problem that reports treat people as if they are “criminals” at the arrest and prosecution stage. In fact, the prosecution rate for criminal offenses for which people are arrested and their papers are referred to prosecutors is only 36.2% (from the 2023 White Paper on Crime). Most recently, it is still fresh in our memory that Japan national soccer team player Junya Ito was referred to prosecutors on suspicion of “quasi-rape resulting in injury” but was later not indicted. Regarding this “paper referral,” Attorney Sugiyama explained, “It is simply a normal procedural step,” and went on to say the following: “One of the parties says there was no consent, while the other says there was consent, which contradicts the other. At least at the police level, the statements made are in a form that disputes the commission of a crime. If there are no witnesses and the two are alone in the scene and there is no further investigation, the police will send the case to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for a decision. That’s all, nothing else matters.” There has been no change in Saito’s “position” between the time he was under police investigation and the time the documents were sent to the prosecutor’s office and the time the prosecutor’s office made its decision. “From now on, the prosecutor will read the documents and sometimes reconfirm statements, etc., and then decide whether to prosecute or not.” (Lawyer Sugiyama) Please check the source for the full text.
It feels good to bash Saito, entertainment reporters, celebrities who act like opinion pieces, fellow comedians who change their minds lol But affairs need to be taken responsibility.
How many Japanese people can explain the difference between arrest, referral (filing papers to the prosecutor’s office), indictment, and guilty verdict? In Japanese culture, the moment you are arrested or your case is referred to prosecutors you are treated like a criminal and get fired from your job.
Saito has admitted to the charges, but I’m not sure if he really admits to all the things he didn’t agree with. I’d like to hear his side of the story.
If this was a false accusation, he could collect compensation from over 10,000 people in the internet community, which would amount to 3 billion yen, assuming 300,000 yen per person.
Yamakawa and Ito were charged before the law on non-consensual intercourse came into force, so I think Saito will be more severely charged after the law came into force.
I’m concerned that it’s a severe punishment, not a reasonable punishment. Normally, the police would find this troublesome and would just give it a reasonable treatment and settle the matter through negotiation. And the severe punishment makes me wonder if something must have happened.
If it’s a false accusation, that would be an interesting development in itself, so I don’t mind. But Yoshimoto fired him and he admitted to it, so it’s highly unlikely.
I can’t decide. Our guess is that if it was soccer, he’d be a honey trap scammer. The problem is that JanPokémon Saito was in debt, so it would have been impossible to solve the problem with money in the first place.
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