Lawyer of Afghan massacre suspect claims PTSD

US soldier charged with killing 16 Afghans suffered brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, say defence team.

A US soldier charged with capital murder in the slayings of 16 civilians near his military post in Afghanistan was diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury prior to the killings, his lawyer has claimed.

The disclosure that Robert Bales was diagnosed with PTSD followed a hearing on Thursday in which defence lawyers told a military judge they were preparing a possible "mental health defence".

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Bales, a decorated veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan who is accused of gunning down the villagers, mostly women and children, in cold blood during two rampages through their family compounds in Kandahar province in March of last year.

The judge, Colonel Jeffery Nance, said such a defence would require a formal psychiatric evaluation and he would order a "sanity board" of independent doctors to review Bales' mental condition.

Defence lawyers also deferred entering a plea on behalf of their client and waived a formal reading of the charges.

Under the military justice system, a plea is commonly postponed at this stage to preserve legal options for the defence, whose ability to make additional motions is severely restricted once a plea is entered, experts say.

Civilian defence lawyer John Henry Browne told the judge, Colonel Jeffery Nance, that he would need at least a year and a half to prepare for Bales' defence.

IED Blast in Iraq

Prosecutors say Bales, a father of two from Lake Tapps, Washington, acted alone and with "chilling premeditation" when, armed with a pistol, a rifle and a grenade launcher, he left his base twice, returning in the middle of his rampage to tell a fellow soldier: "I just shot up some people."

The shootings, which occurred over a five-hour period in March, marked one of the deadliest incidents the military has blamed on a rogue US soldier since the Vietnam War, and strained US-Afghan relations.

Browne told reporters he doubted Bales would get a fair trial unless "we slow this thing down".

He said two Afghans that prosecutors had listed as potential witnesses in the case turned out to be insurgents who were killed by US-led forces, a claim that could not be immediately corroborated with US military officials.

Browne said he had government documentation showing that personnel at Lewis-McChord's Madigan Medical Center had found his client to be suffering from both post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury.

Defence lawyers previously have said Bales had suffered a possible concussion from a bomb blast during a prior tour of duty in Iraq.

Bales was bound over for court-martial in December and faces 16 murder charges, as well as other charges, including attempted murder, assault and drug and alcohol charges.

During a pre-trial hearing in November witnesses testified that he had been angered by a bomb blast near his outpost that
severed a fellow soldier's leg days before the shootings.

The government believes Bales was solely responsible for the deaths, and survivors have testified that they saw only one US soldier. However, several indirect accounts have suggested more than one soldier may have been involved.

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif

ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Search This Blog