JURIST - Paper Chase: Karpinski ordered to testify at Abu Ghraib trial

[JURIST] A US military judge Saturday ordered Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, formerly in charge of US prisons in Iraq, to testify in the upcoming prisoner abuse trial of Sgt. Javal Davis. Davis has admitted to stepping on prisoners' fingers and toes, but says that the conduct was tacitly permitted by military intelligence. Karpinski's testimony at trial will be limited to conditions at Abu Ghraib and the interaction between guards and military interrogators. She will also submit a deposition in another Abu Ghraib abuse trial, that of Pfc. Lynndie England. After the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses were made public, Karpinski was relieved of her command and is presently in the Army Reserves. AP has the full story.

In a related story, the attorney representing Davis, Spc. Charles Graner, Spc. Sabrina Harman, the three accused US soldiers in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, has said that he will seek to have charges against his clients dropped. The request will be based upon the impossibility of the soldiers getting a fair trial because President Bush and other high military leaders have already said they should be punished. AP has more.

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