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2016 May 25 - 31 [POLITICS]

JCP Akamine criticizes gov’t for taking no measures to prevent crimes by US servicemen

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Akamine Seiken on May 24 at a Diet committee meeting took up the issue of crimes committed by U.S. servicemen in Okinawa. He criticized the government for neglecting to take preventive measures against such crimes.

In the House of Representatives Security Committee meeting, Akamine mentioned that last week in Okinawa, a civilian employee of the U.S. military was arrested on a charge of abandoning a woman’s body after killing her. The JCP lawmaker went on to say that every time such a serious crime happens, the government repeats that it will urge the U.S. military to tighten discipline and take measures to prevent a recurrence, but only in vain.

For example, Akamine explained, the U.S. military imposes a night-time curfew on its personnel as a crime prevention measure, but in reality, it does nothing other than to close the gates of its bases between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. In other words, if a serviceman drinks all night outside his base and comes back after 5 a.m., the person will not be regarded as having missed the curfew, Akamine pointed out.

Akamine asked what kind of measures the government had taken to close this loophole.

A Foreign Ministry official in reply said that the government did nothing as it was told by the U.S. government that there is no loophole in the curfew.

Akamine pointed out that in the last two months alone, two U.S. military personnel were arrested during the curfew hours: a seaman for assaulting a Japanese woman at a Naha City hotel in March and another seaman for drunk driving on May 22. He said that the latter incident happened just a few days after a brutal crime involving an ex-U.S. marine. He said that Okinawans can hardly believe the U.S. military’s promises to toughen up discipline and implement preventive measures.

Defense Minister Nakatani Gen said that the suspect in the latest incident is a civilian employee and that the U.S. military has yet to fully implement crime prevention measures for its civilian employees.

Akamine argued that it makes no difference for Okinawans whether the suspect is a U.S. civilian employee or a serviceman as both are under the protection of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement. He criticized the current “crime prevention measure” for not being strictly enforced. The JCP lawmaker called for a drastic change in the SOFA and the cancellation of the plan to construct a new U.S. base in Okinawa’s Henoko district.

Past related articles:
> JCP Okinawa protests US sailor’s rape of Japanese woman [March 17, 2016]
> Okinawa governor protests against rape by US soldier [March 14&15, 2016]