Sergeant
Selena M Salcedo, 24, pleaded guilty on Thursday to dereliction of duty
and assault, admitting she kicked the prisoner, grabbed his head and
forced him against a wall several times.
"I just want to apologise to my mother for making her
go through this; to you for being in your court," she tearfully told a
military judge. "I'm a better soldier than that."
Military prosecutors agreed to drop two related
charges. She was reduced in rank to corporal or specialist, given a
letter of reprimand and docked $250 a month in pay for four months.
She could have got a year in prison and a bad-conduct
discharge. Salcedo admitted mistreating a prisoner known as Dilawar,
whom the military was holding at Bagram air base in Afghanistan in
2002.
Emotional reaction
She told
Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Sposato, the military judge, that she knew what
she was doing was illegal but became frustrated when Dilawar avoided
her questions.
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"I'm a better soldier than that"
Selena M Salcedo,
US Army sergeant |
"I got frustrated so I grabbed the side of his face to include his ears" and pushed him against a wall, Salcedo said.
She said she repeatedly forced Dilawar to sit against
the wall as though he were in a chair. Salcedo said Dilawar complained
of knee pain, but she believed he was just trying to avoid further
questioning.
Dilawar was apparently also beaten by others, and
several other soldiers have been charged. Among them is Private Willie
V Brand, an Army Reservist accused of beating Dilawar over a five-day
period in 2002 at Bagram.
Dilawar died shortly afterwards. An autopsy showed
that his legs were so damaged that amputation would have been necessary
had he survived.
Murder charges against Brand have been dropped,
although allegations of abuse and other charges still stand. A general
court martial for him is scheduled for 15 August.