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Japanese prosecutors in southern Okinawa said Friday
they had dropped charges against a US soldier accused of raping a
Filipina, one of a series of criminal cases linked to the American
military.
“The reason is that we did not
have sufficient evidence,” said an official at the Naha district
prosecutor’s office in Okinawa.
The move came as a US Marine was
sentenced Friday to four years in prison for sexually abusing a
14-year-old Japanese girl, but cleared of the more serious charge of
rape.
The alleged rape sparked mass
protests in southern Okinawa, home to half of the more than 40,000
US troops in Japan. Outraged Japanese leaders called for stricter
disciplinary measures for US forces.
In contrast to the high-profile
case of the minor, which led to an apology from US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, the alleged rape of the Filipina has drawn
less attention.
The woman reported to police in
February that she was raped by a member of the US Army in Okinawa,
only days after the 14-year-old’s alleged rape sparked outrage
among local residents.
The Filipina was injured and
received medical treatment at a hospital after the alleged incident
at a hotel in the city of Okinawa on February 18, according to local
police.
During Rice’s visit to Tokyo in
February, a group of Philippine nationals in Japan staged a rally in
front of the US embassy to protest the fact that her apology had
only mentioned the teen’s case.
Protests spread to the
Philippines, a former US colony, where more than two dozen people
rallied outside the US embassy and demanded an end to the US
military presence in Asia.
US troops are stationed in Japan
under a security treaty with the country, which has been
constitutionally pacifist since World War II.
--AFP
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