|
US seeks custody of marine
05/12/2006 12:24 - (SA)
Manila - The US government on Tuesday sought custody of a US marine convicted of rape in the Philippines while he appeals his conviction and 40-year sentence, but Manila said a judge will have to decide.
The legal battle over custody and interpretations of a joint military pact that allows US troops to train in the Southeast Asian nation loomed a day after a 23-year-old woman won a landmark rape case against lance corporal Daniel Smith, 21, from St Louis, Missouri.
A visibly shaken Smith, who had been in US embassy custody, spent his first night in a Manila jail after being whisked away from the courtroom.
The Philippine foreign affairs department said it received a note from the US embassy "reaffirming the right of the United States military authorities to exercise custody of any United States personnel over whom the Philippines is to exercise jurisdiction until completion of all judicial proceedings".
But the department added: "Mr Smith may be transferred to the custody of United States authorities only upon the authority of the court."
Zosimo Paredes, head of the Philippines' Visiting Forces Agreement Commission, said the 1998 agreement is clear that after all appeals are exhausted, Smith would be detained in the Philippines.
But it was less clear whether he should have been handed over to Philippine police while his appeal is pending.
A Philippine police official said it appeared there had been a misunderstanding after the judge ruled that he should be temporarily held in the Makati jail.
|
News
