About 250 people attend a protest in Naha city against U.S. service members accused of sexual assaults on Okinawa, Jan. 22, 2025. (All Okinawa)

Japanese prosecutors on Okinawa will not pursue charges against a U.S. Marine accused of sexually assaulting and injuring a woman in November, a spokesman said Friday.

The Naha Public Prosecutors Office on Thursday dropped the case against the Marine due to a lack of evidence, a spokesman with the office said by phone.

“We determined that it would be difficult to press charges of nonconsensual sexual intercourse,” he said.

Normally silent on its decisions, the prosecutors’ office publicly disclosed parts of this one because of a high level of interest among Okinawans.

The case is one of at least four of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault alleged against U.S. troops on Okinawa in the past year.

The Marine, in his 30s, is still subject to the U.S. military Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to a spokeswoman for the III Marine Expeditionary Force.

The incident remains under investigation, 1st Lt. Isabel Izquierdo told Stars and Stripes by email Friday. She declined to identify the Marine or update his status.

The Marine was suspected of sexually assaulting and injuring a woman described as older than 20, whom he did not know, in a building on Okinawa. The case came to light Jan. 8 when police forwarded it to prosecutors.

The woman told the Okinawa Times on Thursday that dropping the case is “unreasonable and shocking.” She accused the Marine of holding her mouth closed with his right hand, grabbing her neck with his left hand and beating her when she resisted.

Three other cases of alleged sexual crimes last year on Okinawa led to indictments and one conviction while stirring public discontent with the U.S. military.

A women’s rights group drew about 250 people to a protest Tuesday outside the prefectural government building in Naha, group member Sachiko Kudeken said by phone Friday.

The same group - Okinawans Protesting Against the Rape of a Girl by a U.S. Service Member and Calling for Prevention of Recurrences - attracted 2,500 people to a Dec. 22 protest outside Okinawa City Hall.

The December protest followed the conviction earlier that month of Air Force Senior Airman Brennon Washington in Naha District Court for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a girl, 15, a year earlier. Washington has appealed the conviction.

Kudeken declined comment on the case that was dropped Thursday.

“They should protect us, the citizens of the prefecture, and not the U.S. military,” she said.

Also Tuesday, the Naha and Nago city assemblies filed opinion and protest letters with Japanese and U.S. authorities, respectively, seeking changes to the status of forces agreement governing U.S. troops in Japan, according to the assemblies’ spokespeople.

Naha requested an apology and compensation for the woman in the November incident and asked Japan to “restructure and downsize U.S. military bases in Okinawa.”

The letters were posted to the assemblies’ websites.

The opinion letters were addressed to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani and other Japanese office holders.

The protest letters went to the U.S. ambassador to Japan, a post that’s pending Senate confirmation; U.S. Forces Japan commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost; III MEF commander Lt. Gen. Roger Turner; Marine Corps Installations Pacific commander Maj. Gen. Brian Wolford; and U.S. Consul General Naha Andrew Ou.

Naha also addressed its letter to the U.S. president and secretaries of State and Defense, without naming them specifically.

Some Japanese government officials may speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.