US Marine indictment in Okinawa murder trial renews anti-base movement

Prosecutors indicted a 20-year-old US Marine on Sunday on suspicion of robbing and murdering a woman in Okinawa earlier this month as the case renews anti-base sentiment among locals burdened with hosting the bulk of US military installations in Japan.

Devin Ballard, who is stationed at Futenma Air Base, is charged with killing the woman by wrapping a phone cord around her neck at a hotel in Naha, the capital of the southern island prefecture, and taking her backpack containing a wallet on October 3, according to the indictment. The cause of death was suffocation, it said.

The local police said they found Ballard walking alone in the city of Okinawa in the late hours of October 3 and arrested him the following day on suspicion of robbery and murder.

Hiroya Ishii, deputy chief of the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office, said in a statement, “In the trial, we want to do our best to make accurate arguments and prove the case based on the law and evidence.”

Following the incident, Okinawa Governor Genta Koja has stepped up calls on the central government to take preventive measures, with locals already angered by past crimes committed by American service members, including those against women and girls, in addition to noise and pollution issues.

The Japanese government has lodged a strong protest with the United States and urged it to fully cooperate with the investigation and enforce strict discipline among its military personnel. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the latest case a “heinous crime.”

Following the arrest of Ballard, the US military in Okinawa on October 9 imposed a 30-day curfew from midnight to 5am.

Japan-US talks on preventive steps have also been launched to review the effectiveness of the US military’s “liberty policy” that governs off-base conduct in Japan and joint patrols by US forces and Japanese police, according to Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.