- BAGHDAD (UPI) -- A U.S. military
intelligence soldier in Iraq has been sentenced to 8 months in prison for
taking part in torturing detainees in Abu Ghraib prison.
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- A U.S. court martial Saturday in Baghdad handed down
the sentence against Spec. Armin Cruz, 24, of Plano, Texas, after he pleaded
guilty to abusing prisoners and conspiracy to cover up the abuse.
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- Cruz, the first U.S. military intelligence soldier to
be tried in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse case, was also demoted to private
and given a bad-conduct discharge.
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- During the one-day, two-session trial, defense lawyers
tried to justify Cruz's behavior at the prison by saying he was emotionally
affected when one of his friends was killed in a mortar attack at the prison
outside Baghdad.
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- Seven other American soldiers were tried in U.S. martial
courts in Iraq and the United States after being charged of abusing Abu
Ghraib detainees.
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- Twenty-six others, including three retired soldiers,
have been charged in the same scandal case, but have yet to be tried.
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