thedrifter
03-12-08, 09:07 AM
US sets dates for Marines' Japan rape case
40 minutes ago
The US military said Wednesday it has set dates for the courts martial of four Marines accused of gang-raping a woman in Japan.
The woman, who was 19 at the time of the October incident in Hiroshima, said that the soldiers raped her in a car and then stole her money.
The military decided to court-martial the men amid public resentment following a string of criminal allegations against US soldiers stationed in Japan, one of Washington's closest allies.
Japanese prosecutors had dropped the case, reportedly because the alleged victim had changed her story and was believed to have consented to sex with one man.
Sergeant Lanaeus J. Braswell's court martial will be the first, beginning on April 21, according to a statement issued by the Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni, near Hiroshima.
The other three courts martial are scheduled in May, the Marine Corps said.
Japanese prosecutors recently also dropped a case involving another US Marine accused of raping a 14-year-old girl on the southern island of Okinawa, home to more than half the US forces in the country.
The girl did not want to continue the case, which received intense media attention.
The US military said the 38-year-old Marine was taken into custody for potential disciplinary action.
The military also last month put all troops and their relatives in Okinawa and Iwakuni under a curfew for nearly two weeks in a bid to calm public anger.
More than 40,000 US troops are based in Japan under a security treaty with the close US ally, which has been officially pacifist since World War II.
Ellie
40 minutes ago
The US military said Wednesday it has set dates for the courts martial of four Marines accused of gang-raping a woman in Japan.
The woman, who was 19 at the time of the October incident in Hiroshima, said that the soldiers raped her in a car and then stole her money.
The military decided to court-martial the men amid public resentment following a string of criminal allegations against US soldiers stationed in Japan, one of Washington's closest allies.
Japanese prosecutors had dropped the case, reportedly because the alleged victim had changed her story and was believed to have consented to sex with one man.
Sergeant Lanaeus J. Braswell's court martial will be the first, beginning on April 21, according to a statement issued by the Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni, near Hiroshima.
The other three courts martial are scheduled in May, the Marine Corps said.
Japanese prosecutors recently also dropped a case involving another US Marine accused of raping a 14-year-old girl on the southern island of Okinawa, home to more than half the US forces in the country.
The girl did not want to continue the case, which received intense media attention.
The US military said the 38-year-old Marine was taken into custody for potential disciplinary action.
The military also last month put all troops and their relatives in Okinawa and Iwakuni under a curfew for nearly two weeks in a bid to calm public anger.
More than 40,000 US troops are based in Japan under a security treaty with the close US ally, which has been officially pacifist since World War II.
Ellie