The first US military intelligence soldier brought to court in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal yesterday pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy and mistreatment of Iraqi detainees, witnesses said.
Specialist Armin Cruz, 24, of Plano, Texas, pleaded guilty as soon as the special court martial hearing opened in Baghdad, observers said.
Military intelligence Specialist Cruz was accused of ordering soldiers to force naked and handcuffed Iraqi detainees to crawl so their genitals dragged on the floor, according to the military's charges.
He was also accused of conspiring with military police to cover up the abuse of Iraqi detainees and mistreating subordinates as he carried out the cover-up, the charges read.
Cruz, who joined the army in September 2000, faces a maximum punishment of up to a year in jail, demotion to private, a fine of two-thirds of his salary and a bad-conduct discharge from the army.
The young soldier, who has cropped dark brown hair and a square jaw, sat slightly hunched in the dock, according to a military courtroom drawing.
The government has already charged seven soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company with involvement in prisoner abuse at the notorious jail outside Baghdad in late 2003, and one has been convicted.
The charges mentioned Cruz's collaboration with the alleged ringleaders among the prison's guards: Sergeant Ivan Frederick and Corporal Charles Graner.
Graner and Frederick are accused of being the instigators behind some of the photos of naked detainees wearing dog leashes, stacked in pyramids and simulating oral sex that shocked the world when they came to light in late April.
Abu Ghraib, where at least one inmate died, has been the focus of several army investigations and has come to be a black stain on the US record in Iraq.
Twenty-seven military intelligence officers have now been recommended for indictment. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters on Friday that at least 45 people would face court martial over the scandal.
Initially, the administration of President George W. Bush insisted that sexual and physical mistreatment, which rights groups have said amounted to torture, was limited to the seven military police prison guards who were the first to be charged in the case.
The allegations and charges have since spread far beyond this group to implicate other US agencies and personnel.
So far, Colonel Thomas Pappas, commander of the 205th military intelligence brigade which Cruz was assigned to, is the highest-level officer whose case has been recommended for disciplinary action.
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
RSS