KANAGAWA (TR) – A 76-year-old member of the Yokohama City Assembly has been referred to prosecutors after a female colleague accused him of forcefully kissing her during a business trip, reports TV Asahi (July 3).
Yuki Tanaka held a press conference to detail the alleged sexual assault by Koichi Yatabe, which she says took place last year while the two politicians were on an official inspection tour.
“During the tour, I was forcefully kissed by Assemblyman Yatabe, a man whom I had respected, inside an elevator,” Tanaka told reporters. “He used brute force. I couldn’t even breathe, and I was put in a situation where I was completely unable to resist.”
Tanaka also alleges that the elderly lawmaker forced himself on her at a hotel during the same trip. Following a police investigation into the claims, papers on Yatabe were sent to prosecutors on suspicion of non-consensual indecency.
However, the veteran politician has firmly denied the allegations.
“As far as I am concerned, there is no truth to the claim that I ‘kissed’ her,” Yatabe said in a released statement.
