JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON: A US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers appeared in court Monday for the first time since the massacre, allegedly the worst US crime in the decade-old war.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is expected to attend the full two-week Article 32 hearing, scheduled to run through November 16, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in the northwestern state of Washington.
Witnesses and relatives of victims are expected to testify via videolink from southern Afghanistan where the massacre took place, Bales' lawyer told local media.
The hearing will determine if Bales should face a full court martial. It began with a reading of the charges, including 16 counts of murder, six of attempted murder, seven of assault, two of using drugs and one of drinking alcohol.
Bales, 39, is accused of leaving his base in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province on the night of March 11 to commit the killings. The fatalities included nine children. He allegedly set several bodies on fire.
The massacre tested Washington and Kabul's already tense relationship to the limit.
Bales -- who prosecutors say returned to his base and turned himself in after the shooting rampage -- is a decorated veteran who did three tours in Iraq before deploying to Afghanistan last December.
On the eve of the hearing, Bales' wife Kari reiterated her belief that he is innocent. "My husband did not do this. Did not do this," Kari Bales told ABC News.
Her husband was allowed to call her at midnight that same day, and was shocked when she told him what she had been told by US military officials.
"He was like, 'What? What you talking about?'... And I was actually the one that had told him how many people had died, and that included women and children, and he was blown away," she told the broadcaster.
Bales was transferred from Afghanistan back to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas shortly after the massacre, before being moved back to Fort Lewis-McChord recently, home base of the US 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment.
His wife and two children were moved to the sprawling military base south of Seattle for their own security, and to shield them from the glare of the media.
Bales' Seattle-based lawyer, John Browne, said more than 10 Afghans could be called to testify. He said some witnesses have been difficult to round up, according to the Seattle Times.
Browne was expected to travel to Afghanistan to question the witnesses for himself, while other staff from his law office would remain at the proceedings at the military base, the newspaper reported.
Like Bales' wife, Browne has said his client cannot remember anything of the killings. Reports suggest he may have been drinking before the massacre, and been traumatized over the serious combat injury to a fellow soldier.
Relatives and victims have been paid tens of thousands of dollars in compensation following the shooting. Families of the dead got 2.3 million Afghanis ($46,000) each while the injured received 500,000 Afghanis, Afghan officials said.
Bales' wife said he was disappointed last year when he was not promoted, and therefore missed out on a pay raise.
She wrote about it in what appeared to be her blog's last entry, calling it a disappointment "after all the work Bob has done and all the sacrifices he has made for his love of his country, family and friends."
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