The trial began Wednesday in which the wife of a former finance ministry bureaucrat is seeking compensation from the government and a former senior ministry official, alleging her husband killed himself after being ordered to alter documents related to favoritism allegations against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Seeking around ¥110 million ($1 million) in damages, Masako Akagi, 49, claimed that her husband Toshio, who worked at the ministry's Kinki Local Finance Bureau, committed suicide at the age of 54 in March 2018 after suffering severe mental distress.

During the first hearing at the Osaka District Court, lawyers working for the state and the former senior official, Nobuhisa Sagawa, asked the court to dismiss the plaintiff's claim.