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Pfc. Lynndie England arrives at a military
court at Fort Bragg, N.C., in this Aug. 3, 2004 file photo for the
beginning of her article 32 hearing. England will be court-martialed
in January on charges stemming from the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at
Abu Ghraib prison, the Army announced Monday, Sept. 27, 2004.
(AP) |
Pfc. Lynndie England, the soldier seen in some of the most notorious
photos with naked Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, will be
court-martialed in January on charges of abusing detainees, the Army said
Monday.
The 21-year-old reservist will be tried on 13 counts
of abuse and six counts of indecent
acts, said Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of the 18th
Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg.
England did not enter a plea when she was
arraigned Friday. She faces a prison sentence of up to 38 years, a
dishonorable discharge and forfeiture
of all pay and allowances if convicted.
The abuse charges include three counts of assault in which she is said
to have stepped on the hands and feet of Iraqi detainees. Another abuse
charge includes conspiring to commit maltreatment of a detainee by posing
in a photograph holding a leash around the naked prisoner's neck.
The indecent acts include wrongfully creating sexually explicit
photographs of herself and disobeying an order given by a noncommissioned
officer. Those charges do not involve Iraqi prisoners.
England became a focal
point of the scandal after the release of photos
of her smiling and posing with nude prisoners stacked in a pyramid,
pointing and flashing a thumb's up, and holding a detainee on a dog leash.
The defense said England, a clerk not assigned to
the cellblocks at Abu
Ghraib, was asked by military intelligence agents to help "soften up"
prisoners for interrogation.
Vines, in deciding on a court-martial, reinstated two assault counts
that hearing officer Col. Denise Arn had recommended be dropped. Arn
recommended a court martial on 17 counts, but cited a concern about the
"sufficiency of proof of the allegations" for the other two.
Bragg spokesman Col. Billy Buckner said he could not comment on why
Vines reinstated the counts.
In a report, Arn said England, a reservist with
the 372nd Military Police Company of Cresaptown, Md., was largely led
astray
by older
soldiers in her unit, particularly her ex-boyfriend, Spc. Charles Graner
Jr. Attorneys say Graner is the father of the child England expects to
deliver in October.
During a hearing last month, military prosecutor Capt. Crystal Jennings
read England's own statements that she stepped on prisoners' toes and
posed for and took photos of detainees piled in pyramids and being forced
to simulate homosexual acts.
Jennings said England was simply "having fun" and that there was no indication
she was at the prison for any military purpose.
(Agencies) |