Senator demands Japan return imprisoned Navy officer to US, raises SOFA concerns
(MENAFN) Senator Mike Lee, representing Utah in the United States Senate, has called on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to return imprisoned Navy officer, Lt. Ridge Alkonis, to the United States. In a tweet sent to Kishida late on Monday, Senator Lee demanded that Alkonis be remanded to the custody of the U.S. Navy within the next 48 hours. The Senator warned that failure to comply with this demand would result in a series of conversations about the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which Kishida would not enjoy.
The reason behind the Senator's demand is Alkonis' conviction in a deadly traffic accident in 2021 that claimed the lives of an 85-year-old Japanese woman and her 54-year-old son-in-law. Alkonis was sentenced to three years in prison in Japan, and his family has been appealing to the Biden administration for his release.
Alkonis, who was returning from a visit to Mount Fuji with his family, claimed to have suffered from "acute mountain sickness," which caused him to fall unconscious behind the wheel, leading to the fatal accident. However, the Japanese high court did not accept Alkonis' defense, as they did not believe that altitude sickness could have caused him to lose consciousness.
The Senator's call for Alkonis' return to the United States has put a spotlight on the SOFA agreement, which governs the legal status of U.S. military personnel in Japan. The agreement has been a contentious issue, with some Japanese citizens calling for its revision, as they feel that it gives U.S. military personnel too much protection from prosecution in Japan.
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