• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

US Agrees to Hand Over Sailor to Japanese Police Over Woman's Death

Posted on: Saturday, 7 January 2006, 06:00 CST

Excerpt from report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Yokohama, 7 January: The United States agreed Saturday [7 January] to hand over a 21-year-old US sailor to Japanese police after the police obtained an arrest warrant for him on suspicion of killing and robbing a Japanese woman Tuesday in Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan's Foreign Ministry said. [passage omitted]

The United States agreed on his handover after members of the Japan-US Joint Committee on issues related to US military bases in Japan discussed the request. The US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement does not require the US military to hand over suspects before indictment, but the United States agreed in 1995 to give "sympathetic consideration" to pre-indictment handovers if they are suspected of committing serious crimes such as murder and rape. The agreement followed the rape of a 12-year-old Japanese girl by three US servicemen in the same year in Okinawa.

The US Naval Forces in Japan, which announced Friday they are holding the sailor in confinement at the base as a "potential suspect" for alleged involvement in the death of Sato, consented to allow the Japanese police to question him. [passage omitted]

The incident took place at a delicate time when the Japanese and US governments need to obtain agreement from local communities on plans to realign US troops in Japan. The case is also likely to add fuel to local opposition to Washington's decision to base a nuclear- powered aircraft carrier at Yokosuka for the first time when the conventional carrier Kitty Hawk is decommissioned in 2008. Kitty Hawk currently uses the Yokosuka base as its home port.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

More News in this Category