Former prosecutor arrested on suspicion of sexual assault

OSAKA – The former head of a local prosecutor’s office was arrested on June 25 on suspicion of sexual assault during his tenure, the Osaka Chief Prosecutor’s Office said.

Kentaro Kitagawa, 64, is accused of sexually abusing his subordinate sometime between February 2018 and November 2019 while he was serving as a senior prosecutor at the Osaka District Public Prosecutors’ Office.

The alleged incident occurred at his residence and the victim was drunk at the time of the incident, sources said.

“It is extremely regrettable that a former prosecutor in a high-ranking position has been arrested,” said Tsunekazu Kobashi, deputy chief prosecutor of the Osaka Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. “We will conduct a thorough investigation and consider prosecution.”

Prosecutors have not held a press conference on the arrest or released details of the charges, including the exact date and location of the incident or whether the suspect has admitted the charges.

They cited the need to protect the victim’s privacy as the reason for withholding the information.

Kitagawa was appointed prosecutor in 1985 and worked primarily in the Kansai region, including Wakayama, Hyogo and Osaka prefectures.

He served as deputy prosecutor general at the Osaka Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and held high-ranking positions at the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office before taking over as head of the Osaka District Public Prosecutors’ Office in 2018.

In November 2019, before reaching the mandatory retirement age, he resigned from his post as prosecutor and registered as a lawyer with the Osaka Bar Association.