Washington: US army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was held by insurgents in Afghanistan for five years before being freed in a prisoner swap, will appear in court Tuesday charged with desertion.
The 29-year-old soldier will appear before a military tribunal in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to be formally arraigned for court martial on two charges that could see him face life in prison.
Bergdahl's case has already triggered a highly-charged public debate -- amid allegations that his actions saw comrades killed during the effort to find him and questions about the US decision to free Taliban prisoners in exchange for his return.
But Friday's public hearing will be the non-commissioned officer's first appearance before a judge since he disappeared from Combat Outpost Mest-Malak in Paktika Province, Afghanistan on June 20, 2009.
After leaving the base, leaving behind his firearm, the young soldier was quickly captured by militants from the feared Haqqani faction, a Taliban-lined outfit blamed for many deadly attacks on US soldiers.
A search and rescue mission was launched and some of Bergdahl's former comrades have accused him of putting their lives in danger by his actions.
Nevertheless, the military worked hard for his release and he was eventually released to US special forces in May last year after US authorities released five Afghan detainees from Guantanamo Bay.
Bergdahl was reassigned to administrative work at a US army base in Texas but an investigation had been launched. In March he was charged with "desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty" and "misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place."
He has not entered a plea, but his lawyers have already protested that the charges go beyond what they see as the evidence against Bergdahl.
They have also protested that remarks by Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump -- who called Bergdahl a "dirty, rotten traitor" -- added to the passions surrounding the case and may bias a jury.
AFP
