JURIST - Paper Chase: Top Guantanamo military prosecutor resigns

[JURIST] The top military prosecutor for the Guantanamo war crimes trials has resigned his post, according to a US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] spokesman Friday. Air Force Col. Moe Davis [official profile, PDF] requested a transfer from Guantanamo [JURIST news archive] after complaining that an officer who served as legal advisor to the Convening Authority [official backgrounder], who is responsible for running the trials, should not be supervising his work. A team of investigating experts assembled by the DOD found that the officer did have the authority to oversee Davis, but Davis had already requested a transfer before receiving the panel's decision on Thursday. A military spokesman said that Davis' resignation is not expected to delay the start of trials next month. Reuters has more. The Miami Herald has additional coverage.

Attempts to bring Guantanamo detainees to trial have met with numerous setbacks. The US Supreme Court effectively dismissed the charges against the original 10 Guantanamo defendants accused of terrorism in June 2006 when it rejected [JURIST report] President Bush's initial military commission system, saying it was created without proper authorization from Congress. In response, the Republican-dominated Congress created a new military tribunal system [JURIST report] this past September when it passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) [PDF text; JURIST news archive], elaborated in a manual [JURIST report] published January 18.

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