The Japanese court sentenced an American navy to sexual assault, sentenced him to 7 years in prison

Tokyo – A Japanese court announced on Wednesday that he had recognized an American navy guilty of having sexually assaulted a woman OkinawaCondemning it to prison terms, in a case that sparked anger and security problems on the southern island of Japan, which has a strong American presence of troops.

The Naha district court said that Lance CPL. Jamel Clayton, 22, of Ohio, was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison in the case.

Clayton was found guilty of attacking the woman in her twenties in the village of Yomitan on the main island of Okinawa in May 2024, shocking her from behind, sexually assauling her and injuring her.

During the determination of the sentence, judge Kazuhiko Obata said that the testimony of the victim, planned at a distance and anonymously, was very credible even if the defendant denied the accusations carried by the prosecutors, who asked for 10 years in prison, according to Kyodo News.

It was one of A series of cases of sexual assault last year In which the arrests of suspects were initially retained by local authorities to protect the privacy of the victims, triggering anger and accusations of concealment.

Okinawa, where one of the most ferocious battles of the Second World War was waged 80 years ago and which was under American occupation until 1972, remains by around 50,000 American troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security pact. The island, which represents only 0.6% of Japanese land, welcomes 70% of US military facilities.

Frustration is raised on Okinawa because of its continuous load with the strong American presence which includes noise, pollution, plane accidents and crime linked to American troops.

The Minister of Defense, the Gen Nakatani, who attended the 80th anniversary on Monday at the end of the Battle of Okinawa, expressed his concerns concerning the recent cases of sexual assault involving American soldiers when he met the lieutenant-general Roger Turner, commander of the Marine III expeditionary force, requesting discipline and preventive measures.

There have been growing calls to a revision of the Agreement on the States of Forces which gives the United States the right to study most accidents and crimes that occur on Japanese soil.

The office of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba adopted a statement on Tuesday showing that Japanese prosecutors had abandoned criminal cases against more than 300 US soldiers during the decade from 2014 to 2024, including a sexual assault case in Okinawa in 2020.