Two US marines in rape investigation allowed to leave Philippines
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-30 09:18

Two US Marines who were accused of raping a Filipina woman have been allowed to leave the Philippines after prosecutors decided not to file charges against them, local media reported.

Corporals Albert Lara and Corey Barris have been released from US embassy custody and allowed to return to their home unit in Okinawa, Japan, ABS-CBN television reported.

US embassy spokesmen and the Philippine Foreign Department could not be contacted for comment.

A protestor wearing a Philippines flag and symbolically chained during an anti-US protest near the US embassy in Manila, 09 December.[AFP/file]

Lara and Barris, along with four other Marines, were accused of raping a 22-year-old Filipina woman on November 1 after the troops participated in joint exercises in the former US naval base of Subic Bay.

The four other Marines and their Filipino driver were charged Tuesday with rape, but prosecutors decided not to charge Lara and Barris after they produced evidence that they were not with the others when the alleged incident occurred.

Lawyers for the alleged victim had earlier said they might file a motion of reconsideration to have Lara and Barris charged along with the others.

The case has drawn widespread media attention in this former US colony, and human rights advocates say it has opened up old wounds caused by past abuses.

It is also being seen as a litmus test for the visiting forces agreement, a treaty that grants limited immunity to criminal prosecution to US soldiers taking part in maneuvers here.

The US embassy in Manila had invoked the treaty in refusing to hand over the suspects, but said diplomats would turn the Marines over to authorities if the four were formally charged.

Rape in the Philippines is punishable by life imprisonment or death if there are aggravating circumstances.