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US soldier in court over alleged Afghan killing spree
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US soldier in court over alleged Afghan killing spree
AFP - 20 minutes ago
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Washington (AFP) - – The alleged head of a rogue US army unit accused of murdering Afghan civilians for sport appeared in court, as more gruesome details of a killing spree emerged.
Facing a pre-trial hearing, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs is accused of leading the attacks in southern Afghanistan earlier this year involving around a dozen soldiers in all, in which the victims' bodies were allegedly mutilated.
If proved in a full court martial, the crimes would be among the worst committed by US forces in Afghanistan, and could deal a blow to efforts to win over the support of ordinary Afghans in the war-torn country.
Gibbs, in court for the first time and facing three counts of premeditated murder of Afghan civilians and related charges, sat quietly between two defense attorneys as investigating officer Colonel Thomas Molloy read the charges.
Specifically the 26-year-old is accused of carefully orchestrating the killings to make it appear US soldiers were in danger in part by stealing Russian-made weapons to place near the bodies.
Prosecutors also allege that Gibbs asked another soldier to help him cut off the fingers from an Afghan corpse.
"Sergeant Gibbs, do you understand what you are charged with?" asked Molloy.
"Yes, sir," replied Gibbs.
Obtaining details from eye-witnesses has proved difficult as anyone directly involved in the alleged atrocities invoked their right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination.
Even private Justin Stoner, whom Gibbs and other soldiers allegedly beat after he blew the whistle on widespread hashish use in the unit and later led investigators to the murders, refused to testify.
When asked why, he replied simply: "Fifth Amendment."
But Army investigators say they took statements from Stoner and others that Gibbs led four other soldiers in killing Afghan people for sport over several months this year in southern Kandahar province.
The accused soldiers were all members of the Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Division's Stryker brigade at Forward Operating Base Ramrod.
Special Agent Anderson Wagner, an investigator who testified by speakerphone, said Stoner told him someone from the unit once showed him finger bones and "told him that if he didn't want to end up like that guy he better keep his mouth shut about everything that's going on."
Stoner led Wagner to Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 22, of Wasilla, Alaska -- who faces a full court martial after similar pre-trial hearings in September.
Morlock told the investigator that Gibbs came up with scenarios in which he and other members of the unit could kill people and get away with it, Wagner said.
The alleged scenario that dominated Tuesday's hearing happened on May 2 of this year. That day, Morlock told investigators, Gibbs hid behind a wall and threw a grenade at an Afghan man.
Morlock and Specialist Adam Winfield, another member of the unit, then fired at the man as though they had been attacked. After the man was dead, they planted a Russian-made grenade near his head.
Gibbs' defense attorney Phillip Stackhouse questioned Morlock's credibility, in part on the basis of drug use -- while also suggesting that Gibbs was a victim, and that one of the witnesses against him was the real mastermind.
"Its just as likely that Morlock was responsible for all of these" murders, he said.
The hearing, which had been due to last two days, was wrapped up by late Tuesday. It will likely be a matter of weeks before Molloy determines whether or not Gibbs will face court martial.
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