Bowe Bergdahl Will Be Arraigned for Desertion

Court case… Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl (centre) leaves a military courthouse with his lawyer Lt. Colonel Franklin Rosenblatt (left) in North Carolina.

The charges stem from his disappearance in Afghanistan in 2009, when Bergdahl walked off a base and was held by the Taliban for five years. Captured soon after, he was held for five years by a group affiliated with the Taliban before he returned to the U.S.as part of a controversial prisoner swap in May 2014.

At the hearing on Tuesday, Bergdahl will be asked if he wants to be tried by a judge or a panel of military personnel serving as a jury.

If convicted on a charge of desertion, Bergdahl could serve up to five years in prison, receive a dishonorable discharge, lose his rank and forfeit all pay.

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. The move touched off a firestorm of criticism, with some in Congress accusing President Barack Obama of jeopardizing the safety of a nation with the exchange. If found guilty of the charges, Bergdahl could face life in prison.

An Army investigating officer suggested earlier this year that Bergdahl face a “special court-martial” and not be exposed to jail time or a punitive discharge. King said the judge scheduled the next hearing for January 12.

But General Robert Abrams, the head of U.S. Army Forces Command, ultimately made a decision to refer the case to a general court martial. Bergdahl’s case has gained renewed interest as the subject of the second season of the popular investigative journalism podcast Serial,.

Bergdahl’s attorney Eugene Fidell said politicians and others have been using Bergdahl as a talking point to push their own agendas for months.

Bergdahl told Boal his original plan was to trek to another military base to draw attention to what he called a failure in leadership in his unit.

Troops were injured and killed looking for Bergdahl, Buetow said, and others in his platoon were in constant fear that Bergdahl would give up information – either voluntarily or via torture – that would endanger them.