Complaint Filed Over Death of 16-Year-Old Girl Following Arrest, Interrogation

From MBS News via Yahoo! Japan

August 13 2026

KOBE – A complaint has been accepted against police officers and a prosecutor in a case in which the bereaved family alleges that the death of a 16-year-old girl was caused by an unlawful arrest and interrogation.

According to the complaint, Runa (a pseudonym), who was 16 at the time, was arrested in June last year on suspicion of assaulting a user at a disability welfare facility in Hyogo Prefecture. She was held in custody for 18 days.

Runa was released and subsequently not prosecuted. However, her family says that she developed PTSD and an eating disorder due to the stress caused by the interrogation, during which investigators allegedly pressured her to confess, saying things such as, “Do you want to go to a juvenile detention center?” About five months later, she died in a state of severe malnutrition.

The family alleges that the conduct amounted to offenses including causing death through abuse or cruelty by special public officials. At the end of July, they submitted a criminal complaint to the Hyogo Prefectural Police against three Hyogo police officers and a prosecutor from the Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office. The Hyogo Prefectural Police accepted the complaint by August 13.

Following the acceptance of the complaint, the family told MBS: “We want the truth about what happened to our daughter to be uncovered without anything being concealed. Please, tell us the truth.”

Regarding the acceptance of the complaint:

• Hyogo Prefectural Police: “We refrain from commenting on the details of individual cases.”
• Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office: “This concerns specific details of the investigation in an individual case, and we therefore refrain from commenting.”