U.S. soldiers during a military patrol on the Afghan border with Pakistan last month (Reuters)
A military court in Washington state north of the western United States on Thursday sentenced to life in the U.S. Sergeant Calvin Gibbs is accused of killing three Afghan civilians in 2010, for entertainment.
U.S. sergeant convicted of Calvin Gibbs - the accused at the instigation of his subordinates on the slaughter of three Afghan civilians - on charges of murder, conspiracy and other charges.
Gibbs accused of killing four soldiers and unarmed men during a patrol in Kandahar province early last year.
Gibbs acknowledged (26 years) during the trial, which lasted seven days of Lewis base Makeshord Seattle cut off the fingers of the victims and the uprooting of their teeth to keep them as trophies of war. But he insisted he was not involved in the killings the first and third.
The group accused of trying to "conceal these crimes as acts photographed by self-defense." According to the indictment, the soldiers tried to shoot their dead as rebel fighters were killed in the field of battle.
Prosecutors said that Gibbs and his co-defendants knew that the victims do not pose any danger, and put weapons near their bodies to make it look as combatants.
Admitted three out of five defendants of the charges against them and sentenced them to prison terms ranging between 3 and 24 years old, while still in the fifth, named Michael and the anion is awaiting trial.
Phil Stackhouse, and insisted on Gibbs's lawyer that "they conspired to blame him for their actions," and said the issue was a "betrayal of the infantry."
According to Regulation accusatory, the Gibbs led a group of five soldiers who were serving in the Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan and put the "scenarios" were killed under which three Afghan civilians for entertainment between January and May / May 2010, and some cutting up some of the bodies and retain portions of them and take pictures to Along with the dead.
The jury deliberated for about four hours before his conviction. At the conclusion of the deliberations concluded the jury of five military personnel, to be Sergeant Calvin Gibbs guilty of 15 charges against him, including three counts of murder.
Asked Phil Stackhouse lawyer Gibbs of the jury for clemency on his behalf, pointing out that the Gibbs may be eligible for parole after ten years.
According to the sentence, the convicted will be able to after spending a decade behind bars to apply for parole.
Source: Agencies