City ordered to pay damages for info leak that led to murder
Jiji -- Jan 16
A branch of Yokohama District Court on Monday ordered the city of Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, to pay 1.1 million yen in damages for leaking information that led to the murder of a 33-year-old woman by a stalker.

The victim, Rie Miyoshi, was stabbed to death at her home in Zushi on Nov. 6, 2012. The stalker, her former boyfriend, obtained her address from the city government through a private detective. The stalker, 40, killed himself at the murder scene immediately after taking her life.

The damages lawsuit was filed by the victim's husband, 47, who demanded that the city pay 11 million yen for infringing on the victim's privacy by leaking her address. In handing down the ruling at the court's branch in Yokosuka in the same prefecture, Presiding Judge Isao Maesawa recognized the privacy violation.

Maesawa pointed out that Miyoshi had requested the Zushi municipal government to restrict access to her personal information because she was being stalked.

The city illegally abused its authority, the judge said, noting that a staff employee at the Zushi government's tax collection division provided her address in a telephone call in November 2012 from a former male employee of a research firm who pretended to be her husband, without confirming the identify of the caller. "The victim suffered significant psychological damage," he said.

逗子ストーカー殺人事件に関連して遺族が住所を漏らした神奈川県逗子市に賠償を求めた訴訟で、裁判所は守秘義務違反を認め、110万円の支払いを命じた。 約5年前、逗子市で元交際相手の男に執拗(しつよう)にストーカー行為を受けた末に殺害された三好梨絵さん。
News sources: Jiji, ANNnewsCH