Soldier on trial for prison abuse
A US Army specialist goes on trial tomorrow accused of abusing inmates at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison – the first military intelligence soldier to be prosecuted in the scandal that has so far focused on a handful of prison guard reservists.
Specialist Armin Cruz is accused of forcing naked prisoners to crawl along the floor and later handcuffing the men together, forcing them to embrace.
Cruz faces a year in prison, reduction in rank, a bad-conduct discharge and a cut in pay if convicted during the special court-martial, which will convene in the Baghdad Convention Centre in the Green Zone.
The trial takes place as the Pentagon is under fire for its handling of the abuse investigations, with growing calls for an independent commission to get to the bottom of the scandal.
Except for Cruz, the only soldiers facing trial so far have been seven low-ranking members of a reserve unit.
Lawyers for some of the accused have insisted their clients were carrying out instructions from intelligence officers and civilian interrogators under pressure to obtain information about a growing anti-American insurgency.
