4 US soldiers charged with Iraqi prisoner drowning
Reuters, Washington
The US Army has charged four soldiers, three of them with manslaughter, after the drowning of an Iraqi prisoner who was pushed off a bridge, while a senior general criticised US military detention policies, officials said on Friday. The soldiers, on patrol near the city of Samarra 60 miles north of Baghdad on Jan. 3, pushed two Iraqis off a bridge at nighttime into the Tigris River after picking up the men on a curfew violation, officials said. One Iraqi drowned, while the other got out of the river. The case followed revelations about ill-treatment of military prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and at the Guantanamo Bay US naval base in Cuba. First Lt. Jack Saville, 24, and Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins, 33, were charged on June 7 with involuntary manslaughter, assault, conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction of justice. Saville faces up to 26 years in prison and Perkins up to 26 and a half years if convicted. Two others were charged on Monday. Sgt. Reggie Martinez, 24, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and making a false official statement. Martinez faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. Spec.
|
|
