US Marine in Okinawa, Japan, to be arraigned on sexual abuse charges

TOKYO, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) — A U.S. Marine in Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa was arraigned before prosecutors on Thursday on suspicion of sexually assaulting and injuring a woman in late June, the third such case to come to light on the island this year, local media reported.

The latest incident, which took place in the northern part of the prefecture’s main island, was reported to police by a medical facility that the victim in his 20s had visited shortly after the alleged attack, Kyodo News reported, citing investigative sources.

The 20-year-old Marine Corps member, who is serving time with the U.S. military, was voluntarily interviewed by local police, who built a case based on his social media posts and security camera footage around the suspected crime scene, the report said.

According to police, the two were acquaintances, but it was not disclosed whether the man admitted to the allegations.

The Okinawa government’s Basic Military Affairs Department regretted the latest case and said it would urge the U.S. military to take measures to prevent such a thing from happening again, the report said.

The case follows charges against two other U.S. service members in the prefecture on separate charges of sexual abuse and attempted sexual abuse, which came to light in June after local media reports sent Okinawa into turmoil.

A U.S. Air Force serviceman was charged in March with allegedly kidnapping and sexually abusing a minor, while a U.S. Marine was arrested in May on suspicion of attempted rape resulting in injury. But police did not publicize those cases at the time, citing victim privacy, and the central government did not report them to the prefecture.

The two cases prompted formal complaints from Okinawa to the U.S. Embassy, ​​the U.S. military, and the Japanese government, as well as calls to amend the status of forces agreement for the U.S. military population in Japan.

Okinawa is home to 70 percent of all U.S. military bases in Japan, despite occupying only 0.6 percent of the country’s total land area. Crimes committed by U.S. military and non-military personnel are a constant source of resentment for the local population.