Bowe Bergdahl endured ‘the most horrible conditions of the last 60 years’ while held captive by Taliban
Military prosecutor said although Bergdahl suffered greatly, he must be held accountable for his actions.
Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl endured some of the worst abuse suffered by any US prisoner of war in decades while held by the Taliban for five years, a defence official testified on Friday, while another said Bergdahl should not be imprisoned for leaving his post in Afghanistan.
But a US military prosecutor said at the end of a two-day pre-trial hearing that Bergdahl intended to desert his post, his actions fundamentally altered American operations in Afghanistan and that he should be held accountable for his actions.
The testimony came at the Army’s Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio in a hearing to decide if Bergdahl, 29, should be court-martialed on charges brought against him in March of desertion and misbehaviour before the enemy. Bergdahl faces a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted.
Bergdahl, dressed in his Army service uniform with his hair in a crew cut, elected not to testify.
Testifying for the defence, Terrence Russell, an expert with the military’s Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, said Bergdahl suffered torture, abuse and neglect at the hands of Taliban forces, including months of beatings.
After the beatings, Bergdahl was held for three-and-a-half years in a metal cage barely big enough to stand in, living in isolation and often blindfolded, Russell testified. Any more beatings would have killed him, Russell said.