更新時間 2010年 9月 9日, 格林尼治標準時間22:27
「殺人留骨」的案子很可能造成類似當年監獄虐囚一般的反美聲浪。5名駐阿富汗的美軍士兵被美國軍法單位起訴，指控他們在今年1月、2月以及5月時，殺害阿富汗平民，並將死者的骨頭和牙齒保留作「戰利品」。
另外還有7名美軍士兵被控試圖掩蓋和隱瞞罪行。
部分被告的代表律師否認這些罪名，不過美軍尚未開始審核對這些士兵的起訴罪名。
「戰利品」
在起訴書當中，美國陸軍士官長吉布斯、伍長莫爾洛克、上等兵霍爾姆斯還有特戰隊士兵瓦格農、溫菲爾德被控以手榴彈和槍支謀害阿富汗男性平民。
吉布斯還被控持有從死者身上取下的指骨、腿骨以及牙齒。軍事檢察官還指控吉布斯向另外一名士兵炫耀持有的指骨，並且恐嚇這名士兵如果向上級舉報吉布斯使用毒品，就會殺了這名士兵。
其他被告則被控用刀戳刺一具阿富汗人的屍體、拍攝或持有死者相片以及毆打脅迫他人不能和調查人員聯繫。
被告都是美國陸軍第5斯特瑞克旅的附屬人員。該部隊曾於去年駐扎阿富汗並且曾經參與坎大哈附近的激烈戰鬥。
根據資料，斯特瑞克旅在美國的基地是華盛頓州，是一個混成編製的輕裝多功能快速反應部隊。
否認涉嫌
美國陸軍發言人向BBC表示，這個案子目前還在初步調查階段，同時也還沒有決定是否要採取進一步的法律行動。
據了解，美國軍法起訴需要相當長的時間，過程也相當的複雜。
吉布斯的辯護律師說，吉布斯開槍是「符合與敵接戰」的原則，並且否認吉布斯陰謀殺害阿富汗平民。
美國媒體報道說，本案的線索大部分是來自於莫爾洛克伍長的證詞。
但是莫爾洛克的代表律師則表示，莫爾洛克是在腦部受震蕩、受到處方藥物影響以及在緊急後送的情況下作出口供的，不應具有法律效力。
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/world/2010/09/100909_us_afghan_soldier_charged.shtml
美軍士兵'做運動殺阿富汗平民，並收集手指作為戰利品'
US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies'
Chris McGreal
September 8, 2010
Andrew Holmes, Michael Wagnon, Jeremy Morlock and Adam Winfield are four of the five Stryker soldiers who face murder charges. Photograph: Public Domain
Soldiers face trial over secret 'kill team' which allegedly murdered at random and collected fingers as trophies of war
Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies.
Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians.
In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to emerge from the Afghan conflict, the killings are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.
According to investigators and legal documents, discussion of killing Afghan civilians began after the arrival of Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs at forward operating base Ramrod last November. Other soldiers told the army's criminal investigation command that Gibbs boasted of the things he got away with while serving in Iraq and said how easy it would be to "toss a grenade at someone and kill them".
One soldier said he believed Gibbs was "feeling out the platoon".
Investigators said Gibbs, 25, hatched a plan with another soldier, Jeremy Morlock, 22, and other members of the unit to form a "kill team". While on patrol over the following months they allegedly killed at least three Afghan civilians. According to the charge sheet, the first target was Gul Mudin, who was killed "by means of throwing a fragmentary grenade at him and shooting him with a rifle", when the patrol entered the village of La Mohammed Kalay in January.
Morlock and another soldier, Andrew Holmes, were on guard at the edge of a poppy field when Mudin emerged and stopped on the other side of a wall from the soldiers. Gibbs allegedly handed Morlock a grenade who armed it and dropped it over the wall next to the Afghan and dived for cover. Holmes, 19, then allegedly fired over the wall.
Later in the day, Morlock is alleged to have told Holmes that the killing was for fun and threatened him if he told anyone.
The second victim, Marach Agha, was shot and killed the following month. Gibbs is alleged to have shot him and placed a Kalashnikov next to the body to justify the killing. In May Mullah Adadhdad was killed after being shot and attacked with a grenade.
The Army Times reported that a least one of the soldiers collected the fingers of the victims as souvenirs and that some of them posed for photographs with the bodies.
Five soldiers ?Gibbs, Morlock, Holmes, Michael Wagnon and Adam Winfield ?are accused of murder and aggravated assault among other charges. All of the soldiers have denied the charges. They face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.
The killings came to light in May after the army began investigating a brutal assault on a soldier who told superiors that members of his unit were smoking hashish. The Army Times reported that members of the unit regularly smoked the drug on duty and sometimes stole it from civilians.
The soldier, who was straight out of basic training and has not been named, said he witnessed the smoking of hashish and drinking of smuggled alcohol but initially did not report it out of loyalty to his comrades. But when he returned from an assignment at an army headquarters and discovered soldiers using the shipping container in which he was billeted to smoke hashish he reported it.
Two days later members of his platoon, including Gibbs and Morlock, accused him of "snitching", gave him a beating and told him to keep his mouth shut. The soldier reported the beating and threats to his officers and then told investigators what he knew of the "kill team".
Following the arrest of the original five accused in June, seven other soldiers were charged last month with attempting to cover up the killings and violent assault on the soldier who reported the smoking of hashish. The charges will be considered by a military grand jury later this month which will decide if there is enough evidence for a court martial. Army investigators say Morlock has admitted his involvement in the killings and given details about the role of others including Gibbs. But his lawyer, Michael Waddington, is seeking to have that confession suppressed because he says his client was interviewed while under the influence of prescription drugs taken for battlefield injuries and that he was also suffering from traumatic brain injury.
"Our position is that his statements were incoherent, and taken while he was under a cocktail of drugs that shouldn't have been mixed," Waddington told the Seattle Times.
http://uruknet.info/?p=m69583&hd=&size=1&l=e
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