'Kill Team' Ringleader Tried for Afghan Deaths; Faces Life Sentence
The trial of Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs begins today. Gibbs is being tried for leading a “kill squad,” which murdered three Afghan civilians for sport from January to March 2010.
Five soldiers are being charged with pre-meditated murder as members of the “kill team,” while seven others are being charged with cover-up.
Those involved in the kill team were a part of the 5th Stryker Brigade and deployed to Western Kandahar, Afghanistan.
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“Sgt Gibbs' trial is due to last around one week, with approximately 30 witnesses expected to testify,” said BBC News.
Some of those testifying include soldiers who fought under Gibbs’s command. The soldiers have volunteered to testify to lessen their sentences.
According to a July 2011 testimony by Pvt. Jeremy Morlock, who has received 24 years in jail, the murders were not planned, but were rather thoughts circulating in many soldiers minds that happened impulsively.
“There was never anything planned," Morlock testified. "Like this date or this time. We found an opportunity."
Morlock is expected to testify against Gibbs.
Two testimonies told of throwing grenades at Afghani civilians who were blatantly unarmed, therefore posing no threat.
According to CNN, the soldiers in the brigade posed with the dead bodies in photographs, and Gibbs collected body parts as souvenirs, including teeth and fingers.
According to the charges, Gibbs was found in possession of “finger bones, leg bones and a tooth taken from Afghan corpses.”
Soldiers also claimed to have witnessed Gibbs intimidating one soldier to prevent the misconduct of the brigade from going public.
During interrogation, one soldier also admitted to the brigade chronically smoking hash laced with opium from the beginning of deployment to the beginning of interrogation.
Gibbs, 26, faces life in prison if he is found guilty of any one of the three murder charges being held against him.
“We must allow the judicial process to continue to unfold and be mindful that the government has distinct obligations to the victims and to the accused, which include compliance with the Court's protective order to ensure a fair trial," the U.S. Army said in a statement regarding the trial in March.
