In a sense this is off topic because it relates to an American military
officer who killed some Japanese civilians in a road accident. But it illustrates the attitude of America when its employees are prosecuted in foreign courts for negligent driving - compare what happened in the UK
with Harry Dunn, killed by American employee Anne Sacoolas.

America protects its own. With all the might of President Biden and 20
US Senators. There is little or no respect for the judicial processes of
other countries. Incidentally, Julian Assange's case is likely to be
heard by our Divisional Court in a few days, with huge international
media attention.

quote

On May 29, 2021, Alkonis was driving his wife and three children back
from a day trip to Mt. Fuji. He fell asleep behind the wheel and drifted
across the oncoming traffic lane and into a restaurant parking lot,
crashing into several parked vehicles and pedestrians. A Japanese family
of four, an elderly couple along with their daughter and son-in-law,
were celebrating the mother's birthday at the restaurant. The
85-year-old mother and the 54-year-old son-in-law died as a result of
this crash.

Alkonis pled guilty to negligent driving in hopes of receiving a
suspended sentence. He wrote letters of apology and paid the bereaved
families more than 160 million yen in extrajudicial restitution to the
victims' families. At trial, Alkonis said he had been suffering from
“acute mountain sickness” and that about five minutes before the crash
"I felt my body get weak, and my car drifted out of the lane, but I was
able to quickly correct it." He added that he “should have immediately stopped my car" but continued to drive.

In October 2021, the Shizuoka District Court sentenced Alkonis to three
years in prison for negligent driving resulting in death and injury,
declaring that he should have pulled over once he felt drowsy. Alkonis
appealed the judgement to have his sentence reduced.

In July 2022, a Tokyo High Court appellate panel of three judges upheld
the Shizuoka District Court's judgement of a three-year prison term.

Peter Bärtsch, a specialist in high-altitude illnesses at Heidelberg University in Germany, told The New York Times that a sudden loss of consciousness because of mountain sickness would not have been possible
under the circumstances.

After 507 days in Japanese custody, in December 2023, Alkonis was
transferred to a federal prison in Los Angeles after personal
negotiations by President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and
national security adviser Jake Sullivan with the Japanese government. It
was reported that a Department of Justice official said that "the parole commission process could take several months," and that they would "look
at Alkonis’ prison sentence in Japan and determine what would have been
done in the US, and then determine what his remaining punishment would
be." However, the United States Parole Commission released him in under
thirty days with no supervision, having served less than half of his
sentence.

In February 2023, Senator Lee issued an ultimatum on Twitter to Japanese
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida demanding the extrajudicial release of
Alkonis within 24 hours and threatened to cut off military aid to Japan
if his demand was not met. Following Alkonis' release, U.S. Senator
Mike Lee has demanded an official apology from Japan for their actions
in imprisoning Lt. Ridge Alkonis.

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On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 09:46:53 +0000, The Todal wrote:

America protects its own. With all the might of President Biden and 20
US Senators. There is little or no respect for the judicial processes of other countries.

Shocking, I tell you. Where could they have learned that behaviour from ?

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On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 09:46:53 +0000, The Todal <the_todal@icloud.com>
wrote:

In a sense this is off topic because it relates to an American military >officer who killed some Japanese civilians in a road accident. But it >illustrates the attitude of America when its employees are prosecuted in >foreign courts for negligent driving - compare what happened in the UK
with Harry Dunn, killed by American employee Anne Sacoolas.

America protects its own.

This has been obvious for many years. I don't know why the police here
didn't realise that any promise made by Sacoolas not to leave the UK
was worthless and that she'd be on a plane as soon as she made contact
with the US Embassy.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 18/02/2024 09:46, The Todal wrote:

After 507 days in Japanese custody, in December 2023, Alkonis was
transferred to a federal prison in Los Angeles after personal
negotiations by President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan with the Japanese government.

Why were all of them involved? According to the British consulate in
Tokyo, it's quite normal to release UK people to the UK after a third of
the sentence has been completed. Alkonis seems to have taken longer.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64a7d3fe7a4c230013bba341/_3__Prisoner_pack_-_Sentenced_-_June_2023_update.pdf

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In message <gru3ti517hshsj2ne4o54k9m8e3r9rt48c@4ax.com>, at 12:46:35 on
Sun, 18 Feb 2024, Peter Johnson <peter@parksidewood.nospam> remarked:

On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 09:46:53 +0000, The Todal <the_todal@icloud.com>
wrote:

In a sense this is off topic because it relates to an American military >>officer who killed some Japanese civilians in a road accident. But it >>illustrates the attitude of America when its employees are prosecuted in >>foreign courts for negligent driving - compare what happened in the UK
with Harry Dunn, killed by American employee Anne Sacoolas.

America protects its own.

This has been obvious for many years. I don't know why the police here
didn't realise

Because they are inadequately trained, and take days or weeks to get
their heads around what they'd call a "complex" case like this.

that any promise made by Sacoolas not to leave the UK was worthless and
that she'd be on a plane as soon as she made contact with the US
Embassy.

She had no need to contact the Embassy, there are people on the base
who deal with this sort of thing. All that was required was for her
employers (although all the evidence is she was on moving-house leave
at the time) to re-post her back to the USA, which was done on a
commercial flight, that absent her being on a terrorist "do not fly"
list, the UK authorities had no power to prevent.
--
Roland Perry

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