Private jail vigilantes deny torture charges
Group leader Jonathan Idema accused authorities of withholding documents which he said proved his contacts with the Defence Department, CIA and FBI.
Idema, Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo were arrested when Afghan security forces raided the makeshift jail in Kabul on July 5. They face charges including hostage-taking and “mental and physical torture”. They face up to 20 years in Afghan jails.
Idema accused Afghan and US authorities of conspiring against them.
The former US soldier and convicted fraudster is defending himself, but said he was unable to do so as he had received no translation of the indictment.
Presiding Judge Abdul Baset Bakhtyari said: “You just want to waste time. You understand perfectly.”
Idema said Afghan intelligence agents confiscated some 200 videotapes, 500 pages of documents and 800 photos and gave them to US authorities, materials which he said were key to the defence, as they proved the defendants operated with the knowledge of US military and law enforcers.
Idema, from North Carolina, has claimed he was in contact with senior Pentagon officials. The military says the men operated without their knowledge.
