Okinawa, Japan: US Air Force member charged with kidnapping and raping schoolgirl

Tokyo
CNN
—

Japanese prosecutors have charged a U.S. Air Force member with kidnapping and raping an underage girl shortly before Christmas last year, Okinawa police confirmed to CNN on Wednesday.

Brennon RE Washington, 25, was charged with “consensual sexual intercourse” and “indecent abduction” on March 27, a court spokesman in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, told CNN, adding that the U.S. military handed the soldier over to Japanese authorities the same day.

Washington was released on bail and taken to the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa for detention, a government spokesman said. His trial will begin on July 12, according to a Naha District Court spokesman.

The court spokesman told CNN that they had no further information about the pilot’s legal representation.

The charges come at a time when Washington and Tokyo are deepening their military alliance – not least because geopolitical tensions with China and North Korea are increasing.

The alleged rape is the latest in a series of criminal cases against U.S. personnel on Okinawa, home to one of the largest U.S. military bases abroad. The case could escalate tensions with a population that has long opposed the presence of American troops and weapons on the island.

The presence of the V-22 Osprey military aircraft, a tilt-rotor aircraft, has also been a regular cause for anger and protests in Okinawa following a series of crashes and noise complaints recently.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki told reporters on Tuesday that the allegations of rape and kidnapping were “extremely regrettable,” adding that it was necessary to “vigorously protest against the U.S. military and other related organizations.”

The governor also said his office would “take a tough stance on the situation.”

Washington, the accused soldier, was stationed with the 18th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Kadena Air Base in Japan, according to the US Air Force, which confirmed his rank and service record to CNN.

“The 18th Squadron is aware of an allegation of sexual assault by a Japanese national against a Kadena Air Force soldier,” 18th Squadron spokesman 1st Lt. Alvin G. Nelson III told CNN on Wednesday.

“We understand and share the concerns of the local community regarding this case,” Nelson said, adding that the Wing’s leadership is “deeply concerned about the seriousness of this alleged crime” and is working with local authorities to investigate the allegations.

“All U.S. service members are expected to adhere to the highest standards, and the U.S. military is committed to holding those convicted of criminal acts accountable,” the wing spokesman said.

The charges came nearly 30 years after three U.S. soldiers raped a 12-year-old schoolgirl on Okinawa in 1995, sparking a backlash against the U.S. military on the island.

In 2016, the rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman by a former US base employee in Okinawa sparked mass protests in the island’s capital. Tens of thousands of residents demanded that the US move its bases outside of Okinawa. This resulted in curfews for US personnel on the island.

In another crime involving U.S. personnel in Japan, a U.S. Navy officer killed two Japanese nationals while descending Mount Fuji in 2021.

Masataka Okano, Japan’s deputy foreign minister, called for stricter discipline and protested to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on March 27, the day Washington was charged, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

CNN reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Japan, which said it was aware of the case but declined to comment. The embassy told CNN in a phone call to contact Kadena Air Base, where Washington is stationed, for information on the case. CNN has contacted Kadena Air Base for comment.

Japan and the United States share a defense alliance and a decades-old military partnership, which has deepened in recent years due to regional threats, particularly from North Korea and an increasingly assertive China.

US President Joe Biden met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at Camp David in August 2023 to demonstrate solidarity and strength against Beijing.

In what Biden hailed as a “new era of cooperation,” the three powers committed to annual trilateral summits, exchanging intelligence and conducting annual military exercises.