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TITLE: U.S. Marine Charged With Arson in Okinawa |
AUTHOR: |
PUB: Kyodo |
DATE: February 17, 2001 |
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The Naha District Public Prosecutor's Office on Friday indicted a U.S. Marine suspected of involvement in a series of mid-January arson attacks in Okinawa, prosecutors said. Following the indictment, the U.S. Marine Corps handed over Lance Cpl. Kurt Billie, 23, from Camp Hansen, to Japanese prosecutors. Billie was charged with deliberately starting two fires Jan. 15 in a bar area in the town of Chatan. The U.S. military had refused to hand him over because under the Japan-U.S. Status-of-Force Agreement (SOFA), only suspects of heinous crimes, such as murder and rape, are turned over to Japanese authorities before their indictment. A recent uproar in Okinawa over incidents involving the U.S. military prompted the prosecutors to take unusually quick action to indict Billie, only two days after the police sent the case to them. Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine issued a statement saying he regrets the fact that Billie was not handed over prior to the indictment. "I will continue to actively call on the governments of Japan and the U.S. to review the SOFA," Inamine said. In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Japan will continue urging the United States to take measures to prevent such incidents from taking place. "Cases like these have occurred in succession recently, and we believe we must urge both the U.S. forces in Okinawa and the U.S. government to be extra careful," Fukuda said at a news conference. As for the SOFA, Fukuda said there are no plans at the moment to take specific steps toward a revision but added he will discuss the issue with Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, who has hinted Tokyo may consider seeking a revision. Meanwhile on Friday, the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly unanimously passed a resolution and a written opinion calling for a revision of SOFA and for an early handover of Billie to Japanese authorities. In Chatan, the town assembly unanimously adopted two resolutions Thursday demanding that all U.S. Marines leave Okinawa and that the top U.S. commander there resign. Similar resolutions have been adopted recently in other towns and cities in Okinawa. The Okinawa Prefectural Police sent Billie's case to prosecutors Wednesday after the U.S. military refused to hand Billie over to them. The police had obtained an arrest warrant for Billie after questioning him about 10 times with the cooperation of the U.S. Marine Corps. Police say Billie essentially admitted his involvement in the arson attacks during questioning. The police said they are further investigating Billie in connection with a Jan. 20 arson attack that damaged five bars in the area, completely destroying some of them. Billie has admitted involvement in that arson attack, they said. Okinawa accounts for 0.6 percent of Japan's territory but hosts 75 percent of the land allocated by Tokyo for the U.S. military. It was under the rule of the U.S. military after World War II until it was returned to Japanese sovereignty in 1972. END |