A US military judge has found a Marine guilty of sexual misconduct but not of rape after allegations of gang-raping a woman in Japan, the military said yesterday.
The case in Hiroshima was one of a series of alleged crimes by US troops that has stirred public anger in Japan, a close US ally.
Lance Corporal Larry Dean, 20, one of four servicemen being court-martialed over the alleged incident, was found guilty of “wrongful sexual contact and indecent acts” along with violating military orders.
But the military judge, Major Charles Hale, found him not guilty on charges of rape and conspiracy to rape in the verdict issued on Thursday, a military statement said.
Sentencing proceedings were scheduled to begin yesterday, it said.
It was the first verdict announced for the four servicemen.
A woman, who was 19 at the time of the incident in October, said the soldiers raped her in a car and then stole her money. The court-martial also found Dean not guilty of kidnapping or of receiving stolen property.
The military decided to court-martial the men even though Japanese prosecutors dropped the case, reportedly because the alleged victim had changed her story and was believed to have consented to sex with one man.
The US stations more than 40,000 troops in the country under a security alliance reached after World War II, when Japan renounced the right to wage war.
Japanese leaders have called for tighter controls on US troops after a series of incidents including the murder of a taxi driver by a US deserter and a Marine’s alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl on the southern island of Okinawa.
Japanese prosecutors also declined to press charges in Okinawa after the girl decided not to push ahead with the case, which received intense media attention in Japan.
But the US military also plans to court-martial the Marine in Okinawa, which is home to more than half the US troops in Japan and where tensions run particularly high.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus. Its uncontrolled entry was confirmed by both the Russian Space Agency and EU Space Surveillance and Tracking. The Russians indicated it came down over the Indian Ocean, but some experts were not so sure of the precise location. The European Space Agency’s space debris office also tracked the spacecraft’s doom after it failed to appear over a German radar station. It was not immediately known how much, if any, of the half-tonne spacecraft survived the fiery descent from orbit. Experts said ahead of time
RSS