PARWAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – As the U.S. heads toward transitioning detention operations to the government of Afghanistan, U.S. and coalition service members collecting evidence and assisting Afghan forces during partnered operations will be a key to handing over insurgents for prosecution.
To facilitate transition of detention operations to Afghan control, the U.S. has begun transferring detainees to the Afghan government for host-nation prosecutions, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Suzanne Mitchem, deputy director of the Legal Operations Directorate for Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435. To accomplish this, U.S. and Afghan partner units must understand and emphasize evidence-based detentions and processes, she said. Coalition forces, partnered with Afghan units, are working in the field to provide information and evidence that supports detention operations and criminal prosecutions, Mitchem added.
“These efforts will most fully support the counterinsurgency effort if detainees suspected of committing criminal offenses are referred to the Afghan criminal justice system for pre-trial detention, prosecution and serving of sentence for their crimes, based upon evidence that is used and understood in Afghan criminal courts,” Mitchem said.
When detainees are captured, they can be processed for eventual transfer to the Detention Facility in Parwan, or many times, they are turned over to the local, district or provincial judicial systems, Mitchem said.
Whether they are turned over at the local level or brought to the DFIP, handing over evidence to Afghan authorities is an important aspect for making sure the insurgent is prosecuted under Afghan law, Mitchem said.
Key evidence gathered at the scene includes photos, weapons, fingerprints, electronics and statements, Mitchem said.
The U.S. and coalition forces assist the Afghan government in providing evidence for prosecutions, said U.S. Army Maj. Jeff Nerone, Joint Expeditionary Forensics Facilities director. When captured enemy materials are turned over to one of the JEFF labs, Department of the Army civilians or U.S. contract personnel from the JEFF lab conduct tests such as latent fingerprinting or firearms analysis. Much of the evidence that comes through the facility is improvised explosive devices and components from Task Force Paladin or the Combined Explosive Exploitation Cell.
The test results are turned into a report, which is translated into Dari and provided to Afghan officials for use in prosecuting insurgents, Nerone said.
Providing evidence to the Afghans is especially critical as the U.S. transfers detention operations to the Afghan government, Mitchem said. As more evidence is gathered against a specific detainee, the more likely it is that he can be turned over to the Afghans for prosecution. For detainees held at the DFIP, that prosecution will likely be at the Justice Center in Parwan.
Afghan prosecutions at the Justice Center in Parwan began in June 2010. This was a critical step in establishing Afghan criminal trial processes in Parwan in anticipation of transitioning detention operations and prosecution of insurgents detained at the DFIP to the Afghan justice system. This was a significant milestone indicative of the increasing capability and capacity being built in partnership with the government of Afghanistan. Approximately 156 cases have been heard at the JCIP to date, all containing some form of admissible Afghan evidence.
For example, prosecutors at the JCIP may use photos to establish whether insurgents were at a specific location. Mitchem said an example is a unit who took photos of insurgents next to a weapons cache that was found in the same room of a house as where a detainee was located. Prosecutors used the photo as indisputable evidence the insurgent was tied to the weapons cache, she said.
Mitchem said another example of evidence collection could be when insurgents are running away from a scene and dropping weapons. Collecting the weapons for fingerprint analysis is important because it gives Afghan authorities key evidence for prosecution.
Other items that help are electronics, Mitchem said. Media contained in cell phones, DVDs and cameras can be used to establish that a detainee is a part of the insurgency or aiding the insurgency.
To aid Afghan, U.S. and coalition forces in evidence collection, the Legal Operations Directorate has developed an evidence collection guide to help U.S. and coalition forces understand evidence collection standards and requirements. The evidence guide has been translated into both Dari and Pashto to aid Afghan forces
“What this is designed to do is teach them, train them and give them some things they can do to help facilitate this process,” Mitchem said. “We want them to have a frame of reference in their mind of why it is important for them to properly collect evidence.”
“The more detainees transferred into the criminal prosecution system, the quicker we can hit transition,” Mitchem said. “We want to have systems in place that their laws will recognize in terms of holding detainees. Afghan law recognizes a criminal basis for holding suspects. Our collection of evidence is in support of the Afghan system for holding violators of the law.”
Evidence collection is also important because some detainees are turned over at the local, district or provincial level for prosecution, Mitchem said. “Those transferred need to have quality evidence from a criminal law perspective if they are going to get good quality prosecutions and sentences,” Mitchem said.
The Afghan forensics capability is being built up throughout the country because developing Afghan labs is also key to transitioning operations, Nerone said. In addition to training staff at the Criminal Technique Lab in Kabul, Nerone said the U.S. is assisting the Afghans to develop five regional crime labs in Jalalabad, Khost, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif to support the regional and district police units in each respective area.
Nerone said the unit also partners with Afghan officials to provide training to better hone current skills. Eleven Afghan Ministry of Interior criminal investigators graduated from a Joint Expeditionary Forensics Facility 5 training program in December that increased capacity to gather evidence in latent print, ballistics, firearms, forensic photography and DNA collection.
The training program had two phases; a six-week forensic orientation portion and 16 weeks of formal instruction in the forensic disciplines of photography, latent print examination, DNA, firearms and ballistics. Training included familiarization of terms, equipment and processes as well as work on actual investigations.
The forensics capability is an important part of prosecuting insurgents at the JCIP, said one Afghan judge.
“Based on the circumstances of capture, fingerprints can be the deciding factor in a case, as can DNA,” the JCIP judge said. “The most effective evidence is live witness testimony by Afghans, but this is difficult to secure due to security concerns.”
The judge also said in lieu of live testimony, the evidence and reports supplied are useful in determining if the detainee’s comments are inconsistent or unbelievable.
As the U.S. and coalition forces transfer detention operations to the Afghan government, evidence-based collection will play an important part in prosecuting insurgents.
| Date Taken: | 06.01.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2011 02:20 |
| Story ID: | 72714 |
| Location: | BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 286 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Evidence collection key to transferring detention operations, by SMSgt Adam Stump, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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