U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive by the Taliban for five years, will face a general court martial for desertion and placing the safety of his fellow soldiers in jeopardy in Afghanistan, the military announced Monday.
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Bergdahl was released after President Obama traded him for five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in 2014.
He was later charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, accused of abandoning his post before he was captured.
The Army decision to hold a “general court martial” preserves the option to impose severe punishment up to life in prison if Bergdahl is found guilty.
Bergdahl’s attorney, Eugene Fidell, said in a statement that Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of U.S. Army Forces Command, did not accept the recommendation from a pre-trial hearing that Bergdahl’s case should be referred to a special court martial that would have limited prison time for a conviction to a year. “I had hoped the case would not go in this direction”.
He was captured after disappearing from Combat Outpost Mest-Lalak in Paktika province, Afghanistan, on June 30, 2009.
Major General Kenneth Dahl, who led the military’s investigation of Bergdahl’s disappearance and capture, testified at a military probable cause hearing in September in San Antonio, Texas that Bergdahl was not a Taliban sympathiser and no soldiers directly involved in the search for him were killed.
The proposed charges, which carry a possible life sentence, are much harsher than those recommended by the officer who oversaw Bergdahl’s preliminary hearing in September, according to CNN. Bragg. But Fidell said the Army was seeking to quickly proceed with the case.
The podcast ran excerpts of an interview, in which the soldier claims that he left his base without permission in order to create a crisis and highlight poor leadership within his unit.
In August, Trump called Bergdahl “a dirty, rotten traitor” during a town hall meeting in New Hampshire.
Late last week, Bergdahl explained his disappearance from his post in his own words in the first installment of the popular podcast “Serial”.
The official search for Bergdahl lasted 45 days, but the United States spent years trying to determine his whereabouts and bring him home.
After the Army’s announcement Monday, Mr. Fidell said, “We again ask that Donald Trump cease his prejudicial months-long campaign of defamation against our client”.
The lawyer also asked members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to “avoid any further statements or actions that prejudice our client’s right to a fair trial”.
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The Idaho native suffered torture, abuse and neglect at the hands of Taliban forces, including months of beatings, and confinement for 3-1/2 years in a metal cage barely big enough to stand in, a military expert testified previously.
