IRAQ: MILITARY JUDGE ORDERS U.S.GOVERNMENT TO PRESERVE ABU GHARIB PRISON AS CRIME SCENE.
Record ID:
648438
IRAQ: MILITARY JUDGE ORDERS U.S.GOVERNMENT TO PRESERVE ABU GHARIB PRISON AS CRIME SCENE.
- Title: IRAQ: MILITARY JUDGE ORDERS U.S.GOVERNMENT TO PRESERVE ABU GHARIB PRISON AS CRIME SCENE.
- Date: 21st June 2004
- Summary: (U2) ABU GHRAIB, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 21, 2004) (REUTERS) (AS 9001/04) 1. EXTERIOR OF ABU GHRAIB PRISON 2. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE STANDING OUTSIDE PRISON 3. U.S. WATCH TOWER 4. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF PRISONER/ WATCH TOWER IN BACKGROUND AND BARBED WIRE 5. CLOSE OF SOLDIER SITTING IN WATCH TOWER 6. PEOPLE GATHERED OUTSIDE PRISON 7. WOMEN STANDING NEXT TO BARBED WIRE 8. MAN SITTING ON GROUND 9. VARIOUS OF FAMILIES OUTSIDE PRISON 10. VARIOUS OF SKETCHES OF SERGEANT JAVAL DAVIS (W3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 21, 2004) (REUTERS) (AS 9001/04) 11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAVIS' LAWYER, CIVILIAN DEFENCE COUNSEL PAUL BERGRIN BERGRIN, SAYING: "My client Javal Davis - everything that Javal Davis did was legal, standard operative procedure and he was told to do that by military intelligence as well as by other intelligence agents." 12. CAMERAMEN 13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BERGRIN, SAYING: "Javal Davis's actions in this particular case were accurate, legal, correct." 14. PRESS AT CONVENTION CENTRE (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 21, 2004) (REUTERS) (9001/04) 15. VARIOUS SKETCHES OF SPECIALIST CHARLES GRANER 2.37 (W5) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 21, 2004) (REUTERS) 16. GV: MEDIA AT CONVENTION CENTRE WHERE INITIAL HEARING FOR SOLDIERS OVER ABUSE OF PRISONERS IS BEING HELD (2 SHOTS) 2.45 17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) COLONEL JILL MORGENTHALER, SAYING: "The defence teams will be provided access to General (Central Command chief General John Abizaid) Abizaid, (Iraq commander) Lieutenant General (Ricardo) Sanchez, Lieutentant-General Metz, Major General Jeff Miller, Major General Barbara Fast as well as other in the coalition joint task force seven, chain of command." 3.03 18. CU: CUTAWAY SKETCH OF ACCUSED 3.07 19. (SOUNBITE) (English) MORGENTHALER SAYING: "The defence requested change of venue based on the belief that civilians witnesses would refuse to travel to Iraq. These motions were denied by the military judge at this moment in time. Fifth, the military judge, at the request of the defence teams ordered the U.S. government to preserve the detention facility at Abu Ghraib as a crime scene." 3.35 20. GV: MEDIA; MORGENTHALER LEAVING GATHERING (2 SHOTS) 3.46 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 6th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ABU GHRAIB, BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAEN1U7OGMWS22XQSUC25RWRT3J
- Story Text: A military judge has ordered the U.S. government to
preserve Abu Ghraib prison as a crime scene, a U.S. Army
spokesman said.
Three U.S. soldiers charged with abusing prisoners
at Abu Ghraib jail face initial hearings in Baghdad on
Monday (June 21), reviving notorious images of sexual and
physical humiliation that sparked worldwide outrage.
The photographs of smirking American soldiers
tormenting naked detainees rocked the U.S. military when
they emerged in April, prompting claims that policies
adopted by Washington's "war on terror" had encouraged the
cruelty.
The U.S. army, keen to demonstrate it is weeding out the
culprits, has launched investigations into seven
low-ranking suspects in relation to abuse at Abu Ghraib,
which U.S. officials have blamed on a few wayward
individuals.
Two of the three suspects to appear on Monday face
charges in relation to abuses depicted in some of the most
widely circulated images - including a human pyramid of
naked detainees, a woman soldier holding a detainee on a
leash and a hooded man standing on a box trailing wires
from his wrists.
The hearing on Monday, at a convention centre built by
former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, aims to resolve any
outstanding legal issues ahead of the start of the court
martial of the trio - Specialist Charles Graner, Staff
Sergeant Ivan Frederick and Sergeant Javal Davis.
The start date for their court martial has not been
set, but may be announced by the judge, Colonel James Pohl,
after the hearing. All three suspects have yet to plead.
The hearing in the U.S.-led administration's Green Zone
headquarters may deal with little more than routine
procedural matters, but might confront more significant
issues such as any possible disputes over evidence, a U.S.
army officer said.
But families of the detainees say that the hearings are
unjust because they are being carried out by the United
States.
"This court hearing is unfair. They are the judge and
they are the defendants. So who is going to rule?" said one
Iraqi prisoner's father.
The father of another detainee said: "This court is not
right because the soldiers are being tried by Americans. We
want the court to be held by the United Nations, with
interference of neutral countries."
The U.S. military has conducted at least 80 courts
martial in Iraq since last year's invasion, on charges
ranging from theft or assault to involuntary manslaughter,
the officer said.
Graner, who faces the most serious accusations, could
be sentenced to up to 24 years and six months in jail if
convicted of various charges.
He is accused of photographing a detainee being dragged
by Private First Class Lynndie England on a leash, and
posing for a picture by a pile of naked detainees in
November, the date when most of the alleged abuses took
place.
Graner is also charged with forcing prisoners to strip
naked and masturbate in front of each other, and forcing
one detainee to simulate oral sex on another, before taking
a picture.
Frederick faces charges including participating in an
incident where a prisoner was hooded and made to stand on a
box with wires attached to him, and told he would be
electrocuted if he fell off -- an image splashed on front
pages worldwide.
Davis faces charges including jumping on a pile of
detainees and stamping on prisoners' hands.
A lawyer defending Davis said his client's actions were
'standard operative procedure' and that everything he did
was legal.
"Everything that Javal Davis did was legal, standard
operative procedure and he was told to do that by military
intelligence as well as by other intelligence agents,"
civilian defense counsel Paul Bergrin told reporters in
Baghdad after an initial hearing for his client who is
accused of abuses at Abu Ghraib including jumping on a pile
of prisoners and stamping on their hands.
"Javal Davis's actions in this particular case were
accurate, legal, correct," he added.
Bergin also said that he would seek to put U.S.
President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld on the witness stand, accusing them of
side-stepping the Geneva Convention in their "war on
terror" and said his client was instructed on a daily basis
to soften up Iraqi prisoners to obtain intelligence.
During the hearing, the U.S. military judge handling the
case agreed to Bergrin's request to question top American
generals in relation to the case.
A U.S. military judge agreed on Monday (June 21) to a
request by a lawyer acting for a soldier accused of
prisoner abuse in Iraq to question top American generals.
Judge Colonel James Pohl agreed to a request by the
defence to interview Central Command chief John Abizaid and
top Iraq commander Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez. The
judge also said that the prosecution could participate in
their depositions.
After the judge agreed to let him question the top
American generals in Iraq, Paul Bergrin, lawyer defending
Sergeant Javal Davis, walked out of the court and declared
he wanted Bush, U.S. Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld and
other top officials on the witness stand.
Citing official memos, he accused Rumsfeld and other
top U.S. officials of trying to redefine the definitions of
abuse and torture in a campaign aimed at influencing the
Department of Justice.
Bergrin livened up an otherwise staid court room
atmosphere, saying he wanted to take participants on a tour
of Abu Ghraib, where they would be exposed to the same smell
of faeces and urine that U.S. soldiers endured for months.
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