CBC
21 Jun 2004

BAGHDAD - As pretrial proceedings opened Monday for three of the seven U.S. soldiers charged in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, a military judge declared the facility a crime scene and ordered that it not be destroyed.

The judge, Col. James Pohl, issued the order during a hearing for Sgt. Javal Davis, one of three defendants who appeared in court Monday.

Pohl said the prison may contain evidence.

Following the abuse scandal, U.S. President George W. Bush offered to tear down the notorious prison, which is also infamous as a place where prisoners under Saddam Hussein's regime were tortured and abused.

"The president of the United States went before the American people and he said 'I'm going to tear down the Abu Ghraib prison. I'm going to destroy it and level it,'" Davis's civilian defence attorney Paul Bergrin told CNN.

"This judge had the integrity…to tell the president of the United States, 'You're not touching that prison.'"

Pohl also denied a request from Capt. Scott Dunn, Davis's miltary attorney, for a new hearing.

Dunn claimed he had not been able to question witnesses during Davis's original hearing.

Pohl was also hearing motions in the cases against two other defendants –Spc. Charles A. Graner Jr. and Staff Sgt. Ivan L. (Chip) Frederick.

Seven U.S. soldiers have been accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners at the prison.

Written by CBC News Online staff