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.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
RSS