Japan Press Weekly

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2024 January 17 - 23 [US FORCES]

US sailor, while serving prison term in Japan for fatal car accident, transferred to US and released on parole

A U.S. Navy officer, who was jailed in Japan for negligent driving causing death, has been released on parole after being transferred to the United States, CNN recently reported.

According to CNN, some U.S. lawmakers have condemned the imprisonment of the officer as unjustifiable, and urged the Japanese government to transfer the officer back to his home country, the United States.

The Central Action Committee against the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty (Anpo-Haki) in May last year claimed that it is highly likely that if transferred, the officer will be released before completing his jail term.

The U.S. Navy officer, Lt. Ridge Alkonis, who belongs to the U.S. Navy Yokosuka base, in May 2021 while off-duty crashed his car into a restaurant parking lot in Sizuoka’s Fujinomiya City, resulting in the death of two Japanese citizens and injury to another. It is reported that he fell asleep behind the wheel. Alkonis, while serving a three-year prison sentence in Japan, was transferred to the U.S. at the end of last year and granted parole on January 12.