"To raise one's voice is frightening," added Iwata, a member of sexual abuse victims group Spring. Legislators revised Japan's century-old rape law in 2017 to include harsher penalties, among other changes. The reforms, however, left intact controversial requirements for prosecutors to prove that violence or intimidation was involved or that the victim was "incapable of resistance". Recent acquittals have revived outrage over that legal standard, which means that not fighting back can make it impossible for prosecutors to prove rape. The Tokyo protest was one of nine nationwide from Fukuoka in the south to Sapporo in the north and Osaka in western Japan.

Source: bd News24 June 12, 2019 03:56 UTC