“Military Bases and Women” Network

JAPAN

Statement on the Gang-Rape by Soldiers of U.S. MCAS Iwakuni

2008 MARCH 8

We have received media coverage on the U.S. Marine Corps’ investigative hearing on February 2008 about the gang-rape by Marines in MCAS Iwakuni last October.

According to an article on February 15, the victim testified at the hearing, stating with tears and trembling that she had been “assaulted by 4 men”. Although she had consented to having a sex with one person, “the other 3 men came into the van and all the 4 assaulted” her against her will. Regarding not having testified about the consent with the one person to Hiroshima Prefectural Police, she said that she was “too ashamed to tell about my hasty act”.

Reading this media coverage, we can never tolerate such an atrocious crime of the gang-rape by U.S. Marines not tried by the Japanese court. We strongly demand repeal of the decision of Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors’ Office to drop the case. The investigation should be resumed immediately and the suspects must be tried by the court of Japan.

1. What Happened After the Incident
   
   We have stated our criticism against the remark of the governor of Hiroshima Prefecture that unjustly degraded the victim. We have also strongly criticized Hiroshima Prefectural Police that decided not to hold compulsory investigation and Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors’ Office that dismissed the case. The protest letter that Network on Military Bases and Women presented was endorsed more than 400 individuals and organizations from Okinawa to Hokkaido and from foreign countries such as the Philippines and South Korea.
   
   The governor of Hiroshima, however, has not made any apology, and the compulsory investigation has not been held. The prosecutors’ office decided not to prosecute the case on November 19. The media reported that the prosecutors claimed “the statement of the victim is ambiguous” and “we can not refer to the details because of the nature of the incident”. The reports also wrote that the Marines were insisting that it had been consensual.
   
   We express grave concerns and questions against the decision of the prosecutors, and demanded the Prosecutors’ Office and Prefectural Police to repeal the decision and take their responsibility to make a full explanation. However, we have got no answer yet.
   
   Gang-rape is an atrocious crime that does not require a complaint from the victim for prosecution in Japan. Regarding the case in Hiroshima, the victim has filed the case to the police. It is really unusual that the police and the prosecutors stopped their moves and the case has been left unsolved in spite of the conditions mentioned above. Moreover, the information leaked from the prosecutors and police had a danger to bring about presumption and misunderstanding that the victim herself wanted to stop the prosecution. The prosecutors and police seemed behaving to make an impression that they were hiding facts to protect privacy of the victim. Concerned citizens, who do not have any other way to get information but from the media, might have thought that, fearing second rape, the victim might have regretted filing the case, wanted to stop the prosecution and escape from the testimony at the court.
   
   
2. Our Concerns
   
   However, the article on the investigating hearing on February 14, 2008 explicitly showed that the soldiers assaulted the woman and there was no ambiguity in the testimony of the victim. She was not staying away from the incident, but claimed with tears and trembling in the military base that she was victimized by the soldiers. This testimony irrefutably proved that the decision of the prosecutors and police was unreasonable and inadequate.

What does the “ambiguity of the victim’s testimony” stated by the prosecutor as a reason to drop the case mean? We could understand that because the victim did not tell that she had made consent with one person, the police might have found an “ambiguity” in her statement. But we have to understand that it is immeasurably hard for victims of gang-rape, who have heavily got damaged mentally, to talk about their experiences to others. Appropriate support to victims to assure their safety and relief is crucial at investigation. Regarding the case of this time, however, the governor of Hiroshima spoke out blaming the victim just after the announcement of the incident. It is reasonable in this situation if the victim excessively feared to be blamed for her “hasty act”.

The ambiguity the police claimed is a partial matter only about how the gang-rape happened. Their claim that the evidence was not enough is absolutely unjust. There is an absolute difference between that she agreed to have a relation with one soldier and that 4 soldiers gang-raped her taking advantage of that consent. The four soldiers have been claiming that it was consensual until now. To acknowledge their claim, we need to verify that the woman had agreed to have sex with the four or affirm that consent to having sex with one person is equal to consent to having sex with other associates of that person. This kind of rapist rhetoric is a gross insult and serious human rights violation to all the women.

Around the investigating hearing, we faced rape cases against a junior-high-school girl and a Filipino woman by U.S. soldiers in Okinawa. The decision to accept the claims of the soldiers and to drop the case might have made negative impacts to these incidents. The experience of the 4 Iwakuni Marines of not being punished, not questioned in a court, and not compulsory investigated by the police may have gave unsavory effect on Marines’ actions and views on women in Japan. While the girl retracted the complaint in Okinawa, we are suffering a series of crimes of U.S. soldiers such as unlawful possession of stimulant drugs, drunken driving, house invasion, and so on. The soldiers are verifying by their daily acts that “strengthening of discipline” is only an empty promise. How long do we need to endure such crimes of the U.S. troops?

By the testimony of the victim at the investigating hearing of the military court-martial, we have got the new facts that had been hidden behind. The Japanese police and the public prosecutors must resume the official investigation and try the assailants in a court of Japan. If the investigating and judicial authorities keep neglect the testimony of the victim of the gang-rape, their delinquency will impair the dignity of the victim, violate social justice, and insult human rights of all women.

We strongly demand repeal of the decision not to prosecute the assailants. We strongly demand impartial justice and strict punishment on the assailants. We call the Japanese government, concerned public agencies and organs, media organizations, and all individuals and organizations that aspire to live in a society with peace and human rights to act for the justice of the victim and for the repeal of the drop as well as resumption of the investigation.

March 8, 2008

International Women’s Day

“Military Bases and Women” Network

Coordinating Board Members

TSURUTA Ritsuko

NAKAZAWA Kimiyo

NAGAYAYukiko

NISHIMURA Chizu

BANG Chunja

FUJIME Yuki

MORI Kazume

YANAGIMOTO Yukako

“Military Bases and Women” Network is a women’s network against military bases, founded in 2001.

Recommended article (external link):

• The ‘Rape’ of Okinawa by Chalmers Johnson, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 5 March 2008