The Kagoshima District Court on Monday handed a suspended sentence to a former Kagoshima Prefectural Police officer for breaching confidentiality by leaking investigation information to a journalist.
Judge Yutaka Matsuno ruled that Mitsuki Fujii, 49, sent criminal record information to the operator of an online media outlet in the city of Fukuoka in June 2023 via smartphone messages. Fujii also later mailed a list of incidents handled, according to the ruling.
Matsuno said that the magnitude of the privacy violation by Fujii is large as he shared information on personal criminal records and details of more than 100 cases.
Fujii's desire to obtain information from the online media outlet operator by winning the reporter's trust cannot be justified as a motive for leaking investigation information, the judge said.
However, the judge gave a suspended sentence on the grounds that Fujii has admitted to the charge and showed remorse over his action.
"I did something I should never have done as a police officer," Fujii told reporters after the ruling.
In a separate case in June last year, a former Kagoshima Prefectural Police Officer was indicted on charges of breaking confidentiality by leaking information on a police scandal.