海自自殺判決 いじめ・隠蔽体質を改善せよ

The Yomiuri Shimbun 7:25 pm, May 08, 2014
Defense Ministry must eradicate deep-rooted bullying culture
海自自殺判決　いじめ・隠蔽体質を改善せよ

The government has decided not to appeal to a higher court over a lawsuit involving the cover-up attempt by the Maritime Self-Defense Force over a junior crew member on a MSDF destroyer who committed suicide after being bullied by an officer. The Defense Ministry needs to reflect seriously on the attempt at concealment, and rectify the wrong.
　海上自衛隊による「いじめ隠し」が糾弾された裁判で、被告の国が上告を断念した。防衛省は猛省し、隠蔽体質を改めなければならない。

The bereaved family of the junior crew member, who served on the destroyer Tachikaze, demanded compensation from the state and the officer, who has since left the MSDF. The Tokyo High Court ordered the defendants to pay ¥73 million, acknowledging a causal link between the suicide and the bullying, in which the officer relentlessly harassed the junior crewman through such actions as shooting at him with a toy gun.
　海自の護衛艦「たちかぜ」の乗組員だった男性の自殺を巡り、遺族が国などに損害賠償を求めていた。東京高裁は、男性をエアガンで撃つなど艦内での執拗しつようないじめが原因だったと認定して、７３００万円の支払いを命じた。

The high court ruled that the MSDF concealed from the bereaved family the results of an internal investigation into the bullying. It also found that the suicide could have been foreseen, and raised the amount of damages sharply from the ¥4.4 million figure ordered in a 2011 ruling by the Yokohama District Court. The Defense Ministry gave up appealing to a higher court, possibly because the ministry judged it would be impossible to overturn the facts acknowledged by the high court.
　高裁は、海自がいじめの内部調査結果を遺族に隠したと断じた。自殺は予見できたとして、賠償額も１審の４４０万円から大幅に増やした。防衛省が争いを続けなかったのは、もはや認定事実を覆せないと判断したからだろう。

The Defense Ministry needs to look into the circumstances of what happened, such as how and why the MSDF concealed the survey results and who ordered the cover-up, as well as punishing those involved.
　どのような経緯で調査結果を隠蔽したのか。誰が指示したのか。防衛省は事実関係を究明し、責任者を処分する必要がある。

The MSDF conducted a survey of all crewmen serving on the destroyer in 2004 after the junior member committed suicide. The fact soon emerged that he was bullied on a daily basis by the officer.
　海自は男性の自殺後の２００４年、たちかぜの全乗組員にアンケートを実施した。その中で、男性が先輩隊員から日常的に暴行を受けていた事実を把握した。

When the family requested disclosure of the survey results, the MSDF said it already had destroyed the documents when in fact they had been preserved. It is an unforgivable act, as it ignored the information disclosure system.
　遺族の情報公開請求に対し、海自は調査結果を「廃棄した」と回答したが、実際には保管されていた。情報公開制度をないがしろにする許されない対応である。

Cover-up hindered justice

As a result, the bereaved family could not make a sufficient claim at the district court. It was quite right for the high court to criticize the MSDF over the cover-up of such important evidence, which deprived the bereaved family of opportunities to verify the causal relationship between the bullying and the suicide.
　結果的に遺族は１審で十分な主張ができなかった。高裁判決が「重要な証拠が隠されたことで、遺族は立証の機会を奪われた」と批判したのは、もっともだ。

The concealment was first brought to light by an in-house whistle-blower, a lieutenant commander of the MSDF in charge of the lawsuit. In 2012, the lieutenant commander submitted a statement to the high court that the survey results had been concealed. The MSDF suddenly acknowledged the existence of the survey results.
　隠蔽を暴いたのは、海自側で裁判を担当していた３等海佐の内部告発だった。１２年になって、アンケート結果が隠されているとする陳述書を高裁に提出した。海自は一転、存在を認めた。

It is extremely problematic that the Defense Ministry considered penalizing the lieutenant commander for revealing in-house documents on the survey results. There is a possibility that these acts could violate the Whistle-Blower Protection Law, which prohibits punitive actions that work against whistle-blowers.
　防衛省が、告発のために内部文書を持ち出した行為をとらえ、３佐の処分を検討したことは、極めて問題だ。告発者への不利益処分を禁じた公益通報者保護法に抵触する可能性がある。

After all, without the whistle-blowing by the lieutenant commander, the truth would never have come to light.
　告発がなかったら、真相は闇に葬られていただろう。

The yearly number of suicides among Self-Defense Forces personnel has hovered in the 80s. The percentage of suicides among SDF personnel is said to be higher than that among ordinary public servants. There have also been past court rulings that declared the suicides of SDF personnel were caused by superiors and their bullying, where the courts ordered the state to pay compensation.
　自衛隊員の自殺者は年８０人台で推移している。自殺の割合は一般の国家公務員に比べて高いとされる。上官のいじめが自殺の原因だったと認定し、国に賠償を命じる判決は過去にも出ている。

Many SDF personnel have been penalized for abusing young members. The number reached 47 in fiscal 2012, the highest in the past 10 years.
　後輩らに対して私的制裁を加え、処分される自衛隊員も後を絶たない。１２年度は４７人に上り、過去１０年間では最も多かった。

We must say that the SDF retains a permissive attitude toward violence within its organization. To prevent tragedies like this young man’s suicide from occurring again, the Defense Ministry should make more efforts to manage and educate its personnel.
　暴力を容認する土壌が組織に残っていると言わざるを得ない。今回のような悲劇を繰り返さぬために、防衛省は自衛隊員の管理・教育に一層、力を入れるべきだ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 8, 2014)