Four US GIs Charged in Detainee Deaths

BERLIN - Four soldiers have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of detainees in Iraq in 2007, a U.S. military spokesman said Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham, Sgt. Charles Quigley, Spc. Stephen Ribordy and Spc. Belmor Ramos of the 172nd Infantry Brigade were charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, said Lt. Col. Eric Bloom, spokesman for the Army Joint Multinational Training Command in Grafenwoehr, Germany. The men's hometowns were not given.

Their case now has to be reviewed to determine whether it should be referred to a court-martial, Bloom said. No date has yet been set for a hearing.

In a statement, the Army said the charges "relate to an incident that occurred during April-May 2007 in Baghdad, Iraq."

The statement gave no further details but, in an earlier release, the Army had said the allegations related to "the deaths of several detainees who were captured as part of combat operations last year."

That statement, released in January, said that "preliminary findings indicate the deceased detainees were not persons detained in a detention facility."

Bloom said he could not give any details beyond the official releases.