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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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March 29th,
2009 - US Sergeant Faces Iraq Murder Trial |
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US Sergeant Faces Iraq Murder
Trial From Agence France Presse March 29, 2009 A US Army sergeant is to
face court martial Monday on murder charges, with media reports accusing him
of taking part in the killing of bound and blindfolded Iraqi prisoners near
Baghdad. Sergeant First Class Joseph
P. Mayo has been charged with premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit
premeditated murder, and obstruction of justice, according to an army
statement. He was one of seven soldiers
implicated in the case, and one of three non-commissioned officers to be
tried for murder. Co-defendant Sergeant
Michael P. Leahy, an army medic, has pleaded guilty and was sentenced in
February to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Master Sergeant John E.
Hatley has also been accused of taking part in the killings of four Iraqi
prisoners in March or April 2007, and is to stand trial on April 13, an army
statement said last week. Hatley faces similar charges
"stemming from a separate incident that occurred in early January
2007,'' it added. All the soldiers were with
the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade of the 1st Infantry
Division in Iraq, which is now part of the 172nd Infantry Brigade based in
Germany. Mayo's trial is to be held
at an army court in the small town of Vilseck, southern Germany, and Hatley
is to be tried there as well. Two other soldiers have
pleaded guilty to lesser charges and been sentenced to prison terms of less
than a year, US media reports said, while the army has dropped criminal
charges against two other sergeants, an army spokeswoman said. According to media reports,
Hatley, Mayo and Leahy allegedly killed four Iraqi prisoners with pistol
shots to the head and dumped their bodies into a Baghdad canal, after attacks
on a US patrol killed two soldiers. US military law forbids
harming enemy combatants once they are disarmed and in custody. The New York Times quoted
statements and court documents in which Mayo and Leahy each told of killing
at least one of the Iraqi detainees on instructions from Hatley. The Times said it had
obtained the documents from someone close to a soldier in the unit who
insisted on anonymity and who had an interest in the outcome of the legal
proceedings. According to those
documents, the US soldiers detained the Iraqis following a firefight and
seized automatic weapons, grenades, and a sniper rifle, but were told by
superiors to release the men for lack of sufficient evidence. A soldier in the US unit had
previously been killed by a sniper, and another by a roadside bomb, the
report said. Several US troops have
already faced trial in connection with alleged or proven killings in Iraq, at
courts both there and in the United States. In one case, eight US
Marines were initially charged in connection with the deaths of 24 Iraqi
civilians in the town of Haditha, west of Baghdad, in November 2005. So far, at least seven of
the accused have either been acquitted or had charges withdrawn before court
martial. In another case involving
the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her
father, mother and younger sister, four soldiers were convicted by a court
martial and handed sentences of up to 110 years in prison. The last defendant, Steven
D. Green, is to be tried next month in a civilian court in Paducah, Kentucky
and could face the death penalty if convicted. External link: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25258816-2703,00.html |