British soldier admits war crime

[seafan]

British soldier admits war crime

Staff and agencies
Tuesday September 19, 2006

Corporal Donald Payne today became the first member of the British armed forces to admit a war crime when he pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating civilians detained in Iraq.

He is one of seven British troops who went on trial today.

The charges against all the defendants - which include two officers - relate to the death in custody of Baha Mousa, 26, an Iraqi civilian, in Basra, southern Iraq, in September 2003, and to the alleged ill-treatment of other detainees.
Cpl Payne, 35, formerly of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment and now of the renamed Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, admitted inhumanely treating civilians but pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

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It is the first time any British service personnel have been prosecuted for war crimes under the ICCA.

All the other charges faced by Cpl Payne and the six co-defendants are alleged offences under the British Army Act 1955.

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The usual venue for war crimes trials is at the international criminal court in The Hague, Netherlands, but the British troops are being tried at the military court centre at Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
The offence to which Cpl Payne pleaded guilty took place between September 13 and September 16 2003 in Basra.
Mr Justice McKinnon, a high court judge sitting in the role of judge advocate, is presiding over the proceedings.

The trial, which has been listed for 16 weeks, continues.