Former Saudi diplomat referred to prosecutors for alleged indecency at Tokyo nightclub

TOKYO (Kyodo) — A former Saudi diplomat was referred to prosecutors Friday for allegedly touching a woman’s breasts at a Tokyo nightclub earlier this year, investigative sources said.

The man in his 30s, who was then stationed at the Saudi embassy, ​​had already returned to his country without responding to police requests to appear for questioning, the sources said.

He is suspected of touching the woman’s breasts in her 20s on her clothes at the Roppongi club around 2:50 a.m. on July 15, in violation of Tokyo’s nuisance prevention ordinance, sources said. . The two did not know each other.

The woman then called the police and the man told officers who arrived on the scene that he had only touched her arms. He agreed to accompany police for questioning, but then identified himself as a diplomat and left, the sources said.

In October, police twice asked the Saudi embassy, ​​through the Japanese Foreign Ministry and others, to bring the man in for questioning. But he did not respond and returned to Saudi Arabia in November.

At the time, he enjoyed immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which grants diplomats exemption from arrest.