By Teruaki Ueno@(Updates with government confirmation, background)

TOKYO, Sept 29 (Reuter) - Prosecutors in Japan indicted three U.S. servicemen on rape charges on Friday, paving the way for them to be brought to trial under Japanese law in a case which sparked a furore on the southern island of Okinawa.

Government spokesman Koken Nosaka told a news conference that the three U.S. military personnel were indicted by the Naha District Prosecutors' Office on Okinawa.

The indictment obliged the U.S. military authorities to hand over to Japan the three U.S. servicemen alleged to have abducted and raped a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl on September 4.

A spokesman for Okinawa Prefectural Police said the accused -- Navy Seaman Marcus D. Gill, 22, Marine Private First Class Kendrick M. Ledet, 20, and Marine Private First Class Rodrico Harp, 21 -- were taken from their cells inside U.S. marine base Camp Butler on Okinawa to a Japanese detention centre in Naha, the provincial capital, soon after their indictment.

U.S. military authorities had refused to turn over the suspects to Japanese police because of a clause in the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which bars such a move until Japanese prosecutors issue a formal indictment.

The alleged rape fuelled fierce anti-American protests and calls by local leaders and citizens for the closure of U.S. military bases on Okinawa, home to about 24,000 of the 44,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan.

The Okinawa branch of Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), normally the most pro-American political party, is planning to co-host a rally and demonstration on the incident soon, LDP officials said.

Okinawa, which has a population of 1.26 million, was under U.S. occupation from the end of World War Two until it reverted to Japan in 1972. The tropical island in the East China Sea houses more than 75 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan.

Since 1972, U.S. servicemen on Okinawa have been accused of some 4,000 criminal acts, including 12 cases of murder, according to Okinawa police.

In New York on Wednesday, Japan's Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, during talks to review a cost-sharing agreement for U.S. military bases in the country, asked his U.S. counterparts to tighten discipline of their troops.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Defence Secretary Wiiliam Perry pledged to adopt new steps to prevent U.S. soldiers committing crimes in Japan and other countries.

Perry also offered his "personal sympathy and profound regret for the suffering of the Okinawan schoolgirl and her family."

Also, U.S. troops on Okinawa would suspend military training on October 4 for a day of reflection on the incident and "our obligations to the Okinawan people," Perry said.

Perry also asked his commanders to review induction processes for individuals newly assigned to Japan and to consider new ways U.S. troops can "enhance their contributions to Japanese host communities."

Other moves under way include coordination with Okinawan civilian authorities to prevent similar occurrences, revised policies on alcoholic beverage consumption and more security patrols.

Many senior Japanese politicians have criticised the SOFA agreement as a modern form of the unequal treaties of 19th-century colonialism.

--REUTER

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