U.S. Soldier Accused of Murdering 16 Afghan Civilians

Afrik Update

By Dailymail

                        Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, is on trial for the murder of 16 Afghans slain in the early hours of March 11

Army prosecutors say the U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a murderous rampage must face the death penalty for his 'heinous and despicable crimes'.

Attorneys asked the investigative officer overseeing a preliminary hearing to recommend a death penalty court-martial for Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, as they made their closing arguments at the end of a week of testimony.

Bales, 39, is accused of slipping away from his remote base at Camp Belambay in southern Afghanistan to attack two villages early on March 11 - nine children were among the dead.

The slayings drew such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan, and it was three weeks before American investigators could reach the crime scenes.

'Terrible, terrible things happened,' said prosecutor Major Rob Stelle. 'That is clear.'

Maj. Stelle cited statements Bales made after he was apprehended, saying that they demonstrated 'a clear memory of what he had done, and consciousness of wrong-doing'.

Several soldiers testified that Bales returned to the base alone just before dawn, covered in blood, and that he made incriminating statements such as, 'I thought I was doing the right thing'.

An attorney for Bales argued that there was not enough information to move forward with the court-martial.

An Army criminal investigations command special agent had testified last week that Bales tested positive for steroids three days after the killings, and other soldiers testified that Bales had been drinking the evening of the massacre.

'We've heard that Sgt. Bales was lucid, coherent and responsive,' Scanlan said in her closing argument.

'We don't know what it means to be on alcohol, steroids and sleeping aids,' she added.

'We are proud to stand by him': The soldier's wife Kari Bales, left, is seen with her sister Stephanie Tandberg, right, outside the military courtroom

                  

The witnesses included a seven-year-old girl, who described how she hid behind her father when a gunman came to their village that night, how the stranger fired, and how her father died, cursing in pain and anger.

None of the Afghan witnesses were able to identify Bales as the shooter, but other evidence, including tests of the blood on his clothes, implicated him, according to testimony from a DNA expert.

Sadiquallah, a slight boy of about 13 or 14 whose head rose just above his chair at the witness table, described being awakened by a neighbor screaming that an American had 'killed our men'.

He said he and another boy, Zardana's brother, ran to hide in a storage room and ducked behind a curtain. It provided no protection from the bullet that grazed his head and fractured his skull. Sadiquallah said the shooter had a gun and a light, but he could not identify the man.

The other child was hit in the thigh and also survived. That boy, Rafiullah, testified on Saturday that an American had attacked them and put a gun in his sister's mouth.

His father, Samiullah, was away when the shootings occurred, and testified that by the time he returned the next morning, his two wounded children had been driven to a base for treatment. He found his mother among the four corpses at the compound.

'I just saw her, I cried, and I could not look on her face,' he said.

Prosecutors said that in between his attacks, Bales woke a fellow soldier, reported what he'd done and said he was headed out to kill more. The soldier testified that he didn't believe what Bales said, and went back to sleep.

During cross-examination of several witnesses at the hearing, Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne, sought to elicit testimony about whether there might have been more than one shooter.

One Army Criminal Investigations Command special agent testified that several months after the massacre, she took a statement from one woman whose husband was killed. 

The woman reported that there were two soldiers in her room - one took her husband out of the room and shot him, and the other held her back when she tried to follow.

But other eyewitnesses reported that there was just one shooter, and several soldiers have testified that Bales returned to his base at Camp Belambay, just before dawn, alone and covered in blood.

A video taken from a surveillance blimp also captured a sole figure returning to the base.