The Fukuoka District Court on Tuesday ordered the Jojima Municipal and Fukuoka Prefectural governments to pay a combined 10 million yen in damages to the parents of a boy who committed suicide after being harassed and beaten by classmates.
The parents of Hidetake Osawa, who was 15 when he hanged himself in 1996, were demanding 94 million yen from the town and prefecture over the death of their son.
Presiding Judge Hidenori Yokoyama acknowledged the link between the bullying and the boy's suicide, and held the local governments partly responsible.