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| Pfc. Lynndie England arrives at a military
court at Fort Bragg, N.C., in this Aug. 3, 2004 file photo for the
beginning of her article 32 hearing. England will be court-martialed
in January on charges stemming from the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at
Abu Ghraib prison, the Army announced Monday, Sept. 27, 2004.
(AP) |
Pfc. Lynndie England, the soldier seen in some of the most notorious
photos with naked Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, will be
court-martialed in January on charges of abusing detainees, the Army said
Monday.
The 21-year-old reservist
will be tried on 13 counts of abuse and six counts of indecent acts, said Lt. Gen. John
Vines, commander of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg.
England did not enter a plea when she was arraigned Friday. She faces a
prison sentence of up to 38 years, a dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay and allowances
if convicted.
The abuse charges include three counts of assault in which she is said
to have stepped on the hands and feet of Iraqi detainees. Another abuse
charge includes conspiring to commit maltreatment of a detainee by posing
in a photograph holding a leash around the naked prisoner's neck.
The indecent acts include wrongfully creating sexually explicit
photographs of herself and disobeying an order given by a noncommissioned
officer. Those charges do not involve Iraqi prisoners.
England became a focal
point of the scandal after the release of photos of her
smiling and posing with nude prisoners stacked in a pyramid, pointing and
flashing a thumb's up, and holding a detainee on a dog leash.
The defense said England, a clerk not assigned to the cellblocks at Abu Ghraib, was asked
by military intelligence agents to help "soften up" prisoners for
interrogation.
Vines, in deciding on a court-martial, reinstated two assault counts
that hearing officer Col. Denise Arn had recommended be dropped. Arn
recommended a court martial on 17 counts, but cited a concern about the
"sufficiency of proof of the allegations" for the other two.
Bragg spokesman Col. Billy Buckner said he could not comment on why
Vines reinstated the counts.
In a report, Arn said England, a reservist with the 372nd Military
Police Company of Cresaptown, Md., was largely led astray by older soldiers in her unit, particularly her
ex-boyfriend, Spc. Charles Graner Jr. Attorneys say Graner is the father
of the child England expects to deliver in October.
During a hearing last month, military prosecutor Capt. Crystal Jennings
read England's own statements that she stepped on prisoners' toes and
posed for and took photos of detainees piled in pyramids and being forced
to simulate homosexual acts.
Jennings said England was simply "having fun" and that there was no
indication she was at the prison for any military purpose.
(Agencies) | 
