Marine punished for Afghan corpse desecration
US Marine sentenced to reduction in rank after he pleaded guilty for urinating on corpses of Taliban fighters.
A US Marine staff sergeant, Joseph W Chamblin, has pleaded guilty for urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters and posing for photographs with the bodies.
A military judge issued an initial sentence of 30 days confinement, reduction in rank by three grades, and $2,000 fine, amongst other punishments to Chamblin at a special court martial in North Carolina on Thursday.
However, a marine general will lessen the sentence to a $500 fine and reduction in rank by one grade because of pre-trial agreements.
The incident occurred during July last year operation in the Helmand province in Afghanistan. A video of the incident appeared on the internet earlier this year.
Chamblin pleaded guilty to wrongful desecration, failure to properly supervise junior Marines and posing for photographs with battlefield casualties.
Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, had condemned the actions as “inhuman“.
The US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta tendered an apology and ordered further inquiry into the incident.
This particular case is one in a series of offensive incidents involving US service members that lead to heightened tensions between Washington and Kabul earlier this year.