Hearing set for Marines accused of mistreating prisoners
 

January 26, 2004

Hearing set for Marines accused of mistreating prisoners

By Seth Hettena
Associated Press


CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. ? Four Marine reservists are due in military court Monday to face charges of mistreating Iraqi prisoners at a detention facility in southern Iraq last year where one man was killed.
Lance Cpl. Christian Hernandez, and his superior officer, Maj. Clark A. Paulus, face the most serious charge, negligent homicide, stemming from the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab, a 52-year-old Baath Party official. Both men also are accused of cruelty, assault and dereliction of duty.

Hatab was killed on June 6, 2003 when Hernandez grabbed him by the neck and accidentally snapped a bone in his throat, according to the Marine Corps. Paulus, who faces an additional charge of making false official statements, was commanding officer of the detention facility near Nasiriyah, Iraq at the time of Hatab?s death.

Hatab had been captured a month earlier with a weapon from the Army unit that included Pfc. Jessica Lynch, the Marines said. Lynch?s unit was ambushed in March in Nasiriyah. Eleven soldiers were killed and six were captured ? including the West Virginia teenager whose rescue made her one of the war?s most enduring heroes.

Prosecutors will begin presenting evidence Monday against Hernandez, Paulus, Sgt. Gary Pittman and Lance Cpl. William Roy at an Article 32 hearing at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base north of San Diego. Pittman and Roy are both accused of dereliction of duty and assault. Roy is also charged with cruelty.

The Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury, will help commanders at the base determine whether the four will be court-martialed.

A total of eight reservists are accused of mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Camp Whitehorse, a small, makeshift jail for possible enemy prisoners rounded up during raids in Iraq. Three reservists have been ordered to face special courts-martial.

An Article 32 proceeding was held last month for Maj. William Vickers, 36, who oversaw the camp before Hatab?s death. He was accused of dereliction of duty for failing to stop his men from mistreating Iraqi prisoners.

At Camp Whitehorse, prisoners were kept awake and ordered to remain standing for 50 minutes at a time for hours on end ? conditions that are forbidden by military law, according to testimony at Vickers? hearing.

Col. William Gallo, the officer overseeing the Article 32 hearings, has not yet issued a recommendation on whether Vickers should be court-martialed.

The other members of the unit ordered to face special courts-martial are Sgt. Albert Rodriguez-Martinez, accused of making false official statements and assault; Lance Cpl. Andrew D. Rodney accused of assault; and Lance Cpl. Konstantin Mikholap accused of making false official statements and assault.






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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.

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Sempers,

Roger