Bowe Bergdahl May Be Spared Jail Time And Punitive Discharge

The Army officer who presided over Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s preliminary hearing last month recommended that the case should proceed to a lower level court martial according to Bergdahl’s lawyers, ABC News reports.

In a record delivered on Friday, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Visger, the presiding officer with the assumed Article 32 hearing january in San Antonio, encouraged “non-judicial verdict” for Bergdahl, the experts said.

The sergeant went missing from his base in Afghanistan’s Paktika province on June 30, 2009, and was subsequently held by a Taliban-affiliated group until his release past year as part of a prisoner swap deal involving five senior Taliban figures. His lawyers say that health care is essential for Bergdahl to fully recover from the five years of captivity and torture he suffered at the hands of the Taliban. In light of Visger’s recommendations, the defense is asking that the case be disposed of non-judicially, rather than by any court martial.

But it’s looking increasingly likely the Army is going to be lenient with Bergdahl; the Army officer in charge of reviewing his case has apparently recommended no jail time or punitive discharges for Bergdahl.

The final decision will be made by the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Bergdahl’s Article 32 hearing was concluded on September 18.

The proposal has not been confirmed by the United States military.

Major General Kenneth Dahl, who led the military’s investigation into Bergdahl’s disappearance and capture, told last month’s hearing Bergdahl should not be imprisoned, saying he was not a Taliban sympathizer. Visger recommended against both a bad-conduct discharge and confinement, Fidell said, potentially allowing the soldier to receive a few military benefits after he leaves the Army.

No timeline has been given for a decision from Abrams. It said the defense team is “grateful for the balanced, judicious, and humane approach you have taken to this complex case, and for the evenhanded way you conducted the public hearing”. Cave said. “I think the answer is, fairly little at this point”.

Attorney Eugene Fidell addresses the media at the conclusion of the…