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25-year-old Brennan R.E. Washington was indicted on March 27 on charges of “sexual intercourse without consent” and “indecent kidnapping,” a court spokesman in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, told CNN, adding that the U.S. military handed the serviceman over to Japanese authorities the same day.
Washington was released on bail and transferred to U.S. Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa for detention, according to a government spokesman.
His trial will begin on July 12, according to a spokesman for the Naha District Court.
A court spokesman told CNN they had no details on the airman’s legal representation.
The accusation comes as Washington and Tokyo deepen their military alliance — in part as geopolitical tensions with both China and North Korea rise.
The alleged rape is the latest in a string of criminal cases involving US officials in Okinawa, home to one of the US’s largest overseas military bases, and could exacerbate tensions with residents who have long opposed the presence of US troops and weapons on the island. the island.
The presence of V-22 Ospreys, tilt-engine military aircraft, has also been a regular source of anger and protest in Okinawa following a series of recent crashes and noise complaints.
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki told reporters on Tuesday that the allegations of rape and abduction were “extremely regrettable”, adding that it was necessary to “express strong protest against the US military and other related organizations”.
The governor also said his office would “take a firm stand to address the situation.”
Washington, the accused serviceman, was stationed with the 18th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Kadena Air Force Base in Japan, according to the U.S. Air Force, which confirmed his rank and service record to CNN.
“The 18th Wing is aware of an allegation of sexual assault against a Kadena Airman involving a Japanese national,” 18th Wing spokesman 1st Lt. Alvin G. Nelson III told CNN on Wednesday.
“We understand and share the local community’s concern regarding this case,” Nelson said, adding that Wing management is “deeply concerned by the gravity of this alleged crime” and is working with local authorities to investigate the allegations.
“All U.S. service members are expected to uphold the highest standards, and the U.S. military is committed to holding accountable those convicted of criminal acts,” the Wing spokesman said.
The indictment comes nearly 30 years after three U.S. servicemen raped a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl in 1995, sparking a backlash against the U.S. military on the island.
In 2016, the rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman by a former employee at a US base in Okinawa sparked mass protests in the island’s capital, with tens of thousands of residents demanding the US move its bases out of Okinawa. The fallout led to a curfew for American personnel on the island.
In another crime involving US personnel in Japan, a US Navy officer killed two Japanese citizens while driving down Mount Fuji in 2021.
Masataka Okano, Japan’s vice foreign minister, called for stricter discipline and lodged a protest with US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on March 27, the day Washington was charged, according to the Japanese foreign ministry.
CNN contacted the US Embassy in Japan, which said it was aware of the case but would not comment. The embassy told CNN in a phone call to contact Kadena Air Force Base, where Washington is based, for information on the case. CNN has reached out to Kadena Air Force Base for comment.
Japan and the US have a decades-old mutual defense alliance and military partnership that has only been deepened in recent years by regional threats, particularly North Korea and an increasingly assertive China.
US President Joe Biden met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at Camp David in August 2023 in a show of solidarity and strength against Beijing.
In what Biden hailed as a “new era of cooperation,” the three powers committed to an annual trilateral summit, intelligence sharing and annual military exercises.
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