Soldiers charged in abuse scandal

TWO more US soldiers have been ordered to stand trial in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.

Sergeant Javal Davis, 26, of Maryland and Staff Sergeant Ivan L "Chip" Frederick II of Buckingham, Virginia, were ordered to undergo a general court-martial, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said. He said the trial date and venue had not been set.

Specialist Jeremy C Sivits, of Hyndman, Pennsylvania, goes on trial on May 19 before a special court-martial, which cannot levy as severe a sentence as a general court-martial.

Spc Davis has been charged with conspiracy to maltreat detainees, dereliction of duty for failing to protect detainees from abuse, maltreatment of detainees, rendering false official statements and assault.

Sgt Frederick has been charged with conspiracy to maltreat detainees, dereliction of duty for negligibly failing to protect detainees from abuse, maltreatment of detainees, and wrongfully committing an indecent act by watching detainees commit a sexual act. In the charge sheet, Sgt Frederick was accused of having taken part in forcing a prisoner to stand on a box with wires placed on his hands a scene displayed in one of the photos that broke open the abuse scandal.

The charge sheet said the prisoner was told he would be electrocuted if he fell off the box, although the wires were not connected to a power source.

Sgt Frederick was also accused of forcing naked detainees into a pyramid position and photographing the scene. He was also alleged to have ordered detainees to masturbate in front of other prisoners and guards and to simulate oral sex while photographing them.

Spc Davis allegedly forced detainees into a pile "and jumped on" them, the charge sheet said. He was also accused of having stepped on prisoners' feet and having struck one detainee "in anger".

Spc Davis was also accused of lying to an investigator about such incidents, the charge sheet said.

According to the same report, Spc Davis told army investigators he was "made to do various things that I would question morally".

He also told investigators that military intelligence personnel appeared to approve of the abuse. "We were told they had different rules," he told investigators, according to the report.

Before deployment in February 2003, Sgt Frederick, 37, was a corrections officer at Buckingham Correctional Centre, a state prison in Virginia. His wife, Martha, also works there.

The army report quotes testimony from a witness who said he saw Sgt Frederick hit prisoners stacked in a pile and a prisoner who posed no threat. The witness also reportedly testified he observed Sgt Frederick watching two inmates perform a sexual act.

In Sgt Frederick's written accounts of conditions at Abu Ghraib prison that he sent to his family, he said his job was to prepare prisoners for interrogation and that he was told, "This is how military intelligence wants it done." He said military intelligence officers "encouraged us and told us 'Great job' ".

Sgt Frederick wrote that when he questioned the acting battalion commander about harsh inmate conditions, he was told "to do as he says".