LOS ANGELES, Oct 4 (AFP) - The US army announced Monday that it has charged four soldiers with murdering an Iraqi general while he was being interrogated in Iraq in late 2003.
The soldiers are "under charges of murder and dereliction of duty," said Judy Dutt, a spokesperson at the US army base at Fort Carson, in the western state of Colorado.
Prosecutors claim the soldiers asphyxiated Iraqi Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush, 57, during an interrogation on November 26 last year in Qaim, Iraq.
The army first said that Mowhoush said he was feeling ill when he lost consciousness. In May however they said that Mowhoush had been asphyxiated.
The soldiers -- Chief Warrant Officers Jefferson Williams and Lewis Welshofer Jr, Sergeant First Class William Sommer and Specialist Jerry Loper -- remain on active duty and have not been jailed. At the time were assigned to the Fort Carson-based 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which was deployed in Iraq.
Those found guilty of murder could spend life in prison. Dereliction of duty charges carry a six-month maximum prison sentence.
According to the Denver Post newspaper, the soldiers put Mowhoush inside a sleeping bag while they were interrogating him.
Welshofer sat on Mowhoush's chest and put his hands on the Iraqi general's mouth, according to the paper, quoting an internal army report.
The four soldiers first have to go through Article 32 pre-trial hearings before a decision whether to proceed with a court martial is made, said Dutt. There is no date for the hearing, she added.