Marine Sergeant to Face Court-Martial in Abuse

Four Charged in Case of Iraqi Prisoner Receiving Electric Shocks at Makeshift Detention Facility

A 27-year-old Marine sergeant faces a court-martial in the abuse of an Iraqi prisoner who was given electric shocks at a makeshift detention facility, Marine officials said.

Sgt. Matthew K. Travis, of Paducah, Ky., is the highest-ranking of four Marines who have been charged in the April 13 incident. Two privates pleaded guilty last month to abusing the prisoner and were given prison sentences and bad-conduct discharges. A third private faces a court-martial in late July.

At a military hearing Tuesday in western Iraq, Travis was scheduled to face a general court-martial from July 24 to 28. He was charged in May with conspiracy to commit cruelty and maltreatment, conspiracy to commit assault, dereliction of duty, attempted cruelty and maltreatment, making a false official statement, assault consummated by a battery, attempted assault consummated by a battery and disobeying a lawful order.

In several e-mails responding to questions from The Washington Post, Travis said he was not present at the time of the incident, which occurred inside a temporary holding facility in Mahmudiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad. "I'm looking at 17 years for something I didn't do," he wrote.

The Marines have disclosed little about the abuse incident. Maj. Douglas M. Powell, a senior Marine Corps spokesman at the Pentagon, said he was unable to provide any information about the cases and referred questions to Marine officers in Iraq who can be reached only by e-mail.

Most of the controversy involving treatment of detainees in Iraq has centered on the Army's actions at Abu Ghraib prison and other centers. The other significant prison abuse incident involving the Marines is the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab, an Iraqi who died at Camp Whitehorse, a facility near Nasiriyah, last June. Two Marines face a court-martial in that death.

The four Marines charged in the electric-shock case are infantrymen from one unit, Company G of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. They left for Iraq in February.

According to Travis, the unit was given little notice and virtually no preparation before being assigned to guard prisoners. "It was a last-minute thing," he wrote. "We didn't get good training."

A Marine spokesman in Iraq said in a statement that unit members were told they would be handling detainees as part of a general pre-deployment training that included instructions on how to conduct patrols, searches and other combat operations. The spokesman, Lt. Eric M. Knapp, did not say whether the unit received specialized training for prison guard duty.

The unit took control of the facility in Mahmudiyah from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division on March 24. About a month later, the unit was reassigned to help put down the insurgency that swept the western city of Fallujah.

On April 13, a group of Marines allegedly disciplined an Iraqi prisoner who had been misbehaving by shocking him with a live power wire attached to a converter that delivered 110 volts of electricity.

Pfc. Andrew J. Sting and Pfc. Jeremiah J. Trefney, both 19, pleaded guilty May 14 to charges related to the abuse. Sting was sentenced to one year in confinement and Trefney received eight months. A third Marine, Pfc. Joshua R. Gabbey, also 19, faces a court-martial next month on similar charges.

According to Travis, the holding facility was small, with 16 detainees confined in a canvas tent and about 20 others in metal cages.

"We would punish a detainee for talking or misbehaving by making him stand for about 45 min[utes] or put[ting] him in a cage outside by himself," Travis wrote.