US soldier beat up detainees "for laughs"
The accused mastermind of the Abu Ghraib prison torture beat up and humiliated Iraqi detainees simply for the fun of it, military prosecutors claimed today as his court martial drew to a close.
Emails, photos and videos were presented to the jury at Ford Hood, Texas, by prosecuting Captain Chris Graveline to make the case that Specialist Charles Graner was a sadistic soldier who took pleasure in seeing detainees suffer.
In one email written to friends and family, Graner described beating prisoners as “a good upper-body workout, but hard on the hands".
Graveline said such activity was “for sport, for laughs” and described it as “plain abuse”.
Defence lawyer Guy Womack countered that his client and other Abu Ghraib guards were under extreme pressure from intelligence agents to use physical violence to obtain information from detainees. Womack also said that Graner and the other guards were being used in a cover-up to protect Army officers.
Graner, 36, is the first soldier to be tried on charges arising from the prison scandal. He is charged with conspiracy, assault, dereliction of duty and committing indecent acts, charges which could get him 17.5 years in a military prison. He has not testified.
Graner is best known for being the accused mastermind behind the stacking of naked detainees in a human pyramid.
Three other Abu Ghraib guards await trial.
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