Accused army deserter Bowe Bergdahl appears in court

Bowe Bergdahl, the USA soldier who is being tried by a military court for willingly leaving his post in Afghanistan in 2009, appeared before a judge Tuesday in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for his arraignment. Bergdahl did not decide whether he would prefer to face a court-martial with a jury or one with only a judge, Associated Press reported.

“Yes, sir. I do”, Bergdahl replied several times to Fredrikson’s inquires, confirming he understood the charges against him and the future court-martial process.

He wore an army dress uniform with a dark blue jacket and trousers and had closely cropped hair.

He appeared demure, sitting mostly still in his chair then walking deliberately with his head down as he left the courtroom.

Bergdahl was recovered in May 2014 by a U.S. Special Operations team in Afghanistan after being held captive for five years by the Haqqani network, a militant group affiliated with the Taliban.

The hearing is the first step in Bergdahl’s prosecution before a general courts martial. His next hearing is scheduled for January 12th.

The move lit a firestorm of criticism, with some in Congress accusing President Barack Obama of jeopardising the safety of the country with the exchange.

Bergdahl was captured after he abandoned his Afghan post in June 2009, military prosecutors say.

Bergdahl’s attorney Eugene Fidell said he welcomes the court martial, which will allow for more of the case to be made public.

The charges against Bergdahl had been announced by the Army in March, before Visger reviewed the evidence as part of an Article 32 proceeding, which is similar to a grand jury.

Legal databases and media accounts turn up only a few misbehaviour cases since 2001, when fighting began in Afghanistan, followed by Iraq less than two years later.

Army Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, who led the Bergdahl investigation, testified this year that imprisoning Bergdahl would be “inappropriate” because Dahl’s lengthy interview with the 29-year-old sergeant yielded no evidence that he was “sympathetic to the Taliban”. In contrast, statistics show the U.S. Army prosecuted about 1,900 desertion cases between 2001 and the end of 2014.

The military officer who headed the investigation testified in September he believed Bergdahl should not face prison time. The second offense, “desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty”, carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.