Abu Ghraib Abuse Suspect Faces Court

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040823/ap_on_re_eu/germany_iraq_prisoner_abuse&cid=518&ncid=1473

MANNHEIM, Germany - A U.S. military judge Monday rejected a defense motion to bar evidence gained from a key suspect's computer in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. The defense had claimed investigators acted improperly in taking material from the laptop.

Judge Col. James Pohl also rejected a defense motion to have Spc. Charles Graner's eventual trial moved out of Iraq (news - web sites), saying the request was premature.

As the two-day hearing began at a U.S. military base in Germany, lawyers for Graner — identified in previous testimony as the alleged ringleader — suggested he had been too tired to make a clear decision about his rights when he allowed investigators to take a computer and CDs from his quarters at the prison in January.

But Pohl rejected a defense request to bar anything found on the laptop as evidence, while stressing that the point could be raised again later once it became clear what was on the computer.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040823/us_nm/iraq_abuses_hearing_dc&cid=1896&ncid=1473

U.S. Soldier Seeks to Suppress Iraq Abuse Photos

MANNHEIM, Germany (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier at the center of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal sought on Monday to strike from his court martial potentially incriminating photographs at a hearing before a military judge in Germany.

Specialist Charles Graner and three others are accused of sexually humiliating and, in some cases, beating Iraqi detainees at Iraq (news - web sites)'s notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

Shocking photos of their torment of naked Iraqis sparked worldwide outrage when they emerged in April and sparked criticism that sweeping U.S. anti-terror policies had encouraged the abuses.

Graner, who faces the most serious accusations and who featured prominently in the abuse photographs, was the first to appear, sitting beside his lawyers.

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