Legal News

Tribunal Supervisor Investigated for Abuse of Power at Gitmo

By Dan Slater

Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, the legal adviser to the military tribunal system, left, testifies, Dec. 11, 2007, before the Senate Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on the legal right of Guantanamo detainees. (AP/Susan Walsh)

The fate of Thomas Hartmann, the Pentagon official who’s been overseeing Gitmo’s military commissions, turned south at least a year ago. Last September, Col. Morris Davis, the military-commissions- advocate-turned-critic who testified in the trial of Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s former driver, filed a complaint against Hartmann, alleging that he’d overstepped his mandate by interfering directly in cases. Then a judge disqualified Hartmann from any role in Hamdan’s case.

Hartmann’s latest troubles? Two investigations into his conduct, including an ethics probe into whether he abused his power and improperly influenced the prosecutions of enemy combatants. Here’s the L.A. Times report.

The Air Force, according to the LAT, is reviewing allegations that Hartmann bullied prosecutors, logistics officials and others at Gitmo — resulting in cases going to trial that were not ready and the prosecution of at least one individual on charges that were unwarranted — and assertions that he advocated using coerced evidence despite prosecutors’ objections.

A second investigation, being conducted by the Department of Defense’s Office of the Inspector General, was sparked by the complaints of allegedly abusive and retaliatory behavior toward them within the Office of Military Commissions. A spokesman for Hartmann and the Office of Military Commissions declined to comment to the LAT.

Just two weeks ago the LAT reported that Darrel J. Vandeveld, a former prosecutor at Gitmo, testified that the U.S. government was not providing Gitmo defense lawyers with the evidence it had against their clients, including exculpatory information.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 27, 2008 (boomark / email).