Soldier Freed from Taliban Charged with Desertion
March 26, 2015Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who went missing from his army base in Afghanistan in 2009, has been charged with desertion and misbehavior, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
A hearing will determine whether he will have court-martial proceedings. He could then be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty.
Bergdahl was freed in May after five years of captivity by the Taliban. His release – the product of a controversial prisoner swap – sparked a heated political row.
Critics said that, in making the quiet trade for Bergdahl, the administration violated the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, which requires a 30-day warning before releasing terrorists from the compound – charges that then U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel denied.
The U.S. Army made the announcement on Bergdahl’s charges at Army Forces Command in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on Wednesday.
Colonel Daniel King said the U.S. Army Forces Command had reviewed the Army’s investigation into Sgt Bergdahl’s disappearance before bringing the charges.
King said Bergdahl has been charged with one count of desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty and one count of misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place.
Bergdahl could spend up to five years in prison if convicted on the desertion charge. A conviction on the misbehavior charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The case will now go to a preliminary hearing to determine whether he should face a court-martial. King likened the hearing to a civilian grand jury proceeding.
The timing for the hearing has not been announced.
Fellow soldiers said Bergdahl knowingly wandered away from his unit while deployed in Afghanistan in June 2009.
He was captured and held by the Taliban for five years, before being handed over to a team of U.S. special forces soldiers last May.
In exchange for his release, five senior Taliban commanders held at Guantanamo Bay were transferred to the custody of the Gulf state of Qatar, which brokered the deal.
His release enraged Republicans and some Democrats, who said that the prisoner swap could ultimately put American lives at risk.
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