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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP protests against U.S. airman's assault on Okinawan girl

The Japanese Communist Party on July 4 urged the national and Okinawan prefectural governments to make a protest to the U.S. Forces in Japan over a recent molestation incident by a U.S. serviceman of a 10-year-old girl in Okinawa, and to call for all U.S. military bases to be removed.

On July 3, police arrested Armando Valdez, a 27-year-old U.S. Air Force sergeant stationed at the U.S. Kadena Air Base, for allegedly molesting an elementary school girl in a parking lot in Okinawa City.

JCP Okinawa Prefectural Committee representatives led by House of Representatives member Akamine Seiken made representations on the next day to the Defense Agency's Naha Regional Defense Facilities Administration Bureau and the Foreign Ministry's Okinawa office.

Akamine asked, "Every time U.S. military personnel committed such crimes, U.S. Forces in Japan promised to tighten discipline. Does the government know what kind of measures the U.S. forces have taken or how many service members have actually received punishment?" Evading the question, government officials only repeated that U.S. Forces in Japan are taking preventive measures.

At the July 4 Okinawa Prefectural Assembly session, JCP Assembly members criticized governor Inamine Keiichi for failing to demand the closure of U.S. bases in Okinawa.

Inamine expressed protest against the incident, saying, "As head of the prefectural government responsible for the safety of its 230,000 children, I can never forgive such acts."

JCP representative Kayo Sogi stressed, "It is clear that such crimes will not be eliminated as long as U.S. bases exist in Okinawa." - Akahata, July 5, 2005