People stage a rally calling for reducing the burden on Okinawa from hosting U.S. forces in the Okinawa Prefecture city of Ginowan, southern Japan, May 18, 2024. /CFP
Public prosecutors in the southernmost Japanese prefecture of Okinawa have indicted a 21-year-old U.S. Marine on charges of nonconsensual sexual intercourse resulting in injury.
The Naha District Public Prosecutors Office said Friday that they filed charges against Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton on June 17.
According to the indictment, Clayton tightened a woman's head with sexual intent in the village of Yomitan on May 26, causing subconjunctival hemorrhage and other injuries that required about two weeks to heal.
The news follows the revelation earlier this week that a U.S. Air Force member has been indicted for allegedly kidnapping a girl under the age of 16 and committing nonconsensual sexual intercourse.
Okinawa hosts 70 percent of all the U.S. military bases in Japan while accounting for only 0.6 percent of the country's total land area. Crimes committed by U.S. service members and nonmilitary personnel have been a constant source of grievance for locals.
The latest incident is expected to further inflame local opposition to the U.S. military presence in the prefecture.