Japanese soccer player Ito avoids indictment over sexual assault

Public prosecutors Friday decided not to indict professional soccer player Junya Ito and another person over alleged sexual assault on two women.
The Osaka District Public Prosecutor’s Office said that investigators have not collected enough evidence to indict the suspects.
The two women had filed a complaint in January, accusing the 31-year-old soccer player of making them drunk and sexually assaulting them. In response, the Ito side had argued that the two women’s claims were false.
The Osaka Prefectural Police had referred Ito and the other to public prosecutors in July on suspicion of sexual assault on the two women at a hotel in the city of Osaka in June 2023.
On Thursday, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office decided not to indict Kaishu Sano, a former member of the Japanese national soccer team, and two others over alleged sexual assault on a woman.