Key soldier in Afghan war crimes case faces court-

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SEATTLE (Reuters) – An Army staff sergeant was ordered on Friday to be tried by a military court to face charges that include murdering three unarmed Afghan civilians,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], keeping body parts as grisly war trophies and beating a whistle-blower who told superiors about widespread hashish use in his unit.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord Commanding Officer Major General Curtis Scaparrotti ordered Stryker Brigade Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, 25,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], of Billings,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Montana, to stand trial. No date was set.
Gibbs is one of five soldiers from the brigade charged with murder. Twelve soldiers in all face charges in the most serious prosecutions of alleged war atrocities by U.S. military deployed in Afghanistan since the war began in late 2001.
The Stryker Brigade cases, with some 4,000 photographs sealed from public view including some reportedly of soldiers posing with Afghan casualties,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], have drawn comparisons to the inflammatory Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq in 2004.
"The photographs in question provide exculpatory evidence that PFC Holmes did not cause the death of the victim in this case," Conway said, adding that Holmes was "not a part of any conspiracy to murder innocent Afghanis. He's a young man that was trying to do his job and got unwittingly used as a cover story."
Two of the 12 Stryker Brigade soldiers have been sentenced after court-martial trials.
On December 1, U.S. Army Medic Robert Stevens was ordered to serve nine months at this home base,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], demoted to E-1 private but allowed to remain in the military.
Corporal Emmitt Quintal was ordered to be discharged this week for bad conduct after serving a 90-day sentence of hard labor and demoted to E-2 private.