Hicks defense slams trial process
From CNN Justice Producer Terry Frieden
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David Hicks has been detained for two years without charge so far.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military lawyer representing an Australian citizen detained at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has sharply criticized the government's planned military tribunals, charging the process has a "vested interest only in convictions".
Marine Major Michael Mori, who has been assigned as the military attorney for Australian detainee David Hicks, was blunt in his assessment of the judicial process he expects to unfold for his client.
Hicks, who was captured by Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan, had been detained for more than two years and has still not been charged.
"The Military Commission will not provide a full and fair trial," Mori told reporters at his government office near the Pentagon Wednesday.
"The Commission process has been created and controlled by those with a vested interest only in convictions," Mori said.
The military lawyer expressed great concerns about the potential for other countries to provide captured U.S. military personnel with the same limited rights as the U.S. is proposing to use.
"A principal concern as a member of the military is that I do not want my fellow service members placed in any jeopardy beyond the risk they already face," he said.
Mori told reporters he personally believes Hicks should be tried in an Australian court. Mori said he is not free to discuss the circumstances which led to Hicks' battlefield capture, nor other specifics of Hicks' case.
However, Mori asserted Hicks at no time had harmed any U.S. citizens, negating the need for him to be tried by U.S. authorities. He said if the U.S. government does charge Hicks, the case should be tried under existing military procedures.
"Three is no valid reason to create a new justice system only for non-U.S. citizens," Mori said in prepared remarks before a bank of television cameras and U.S. and Australian journalists.
"The established general court-martial system has jurisdiction to try war crimes and complies with international law," he said. Mori said a military commission will have a lower standard of proof for conviction than a court martial.
The U.S. Marine Major said he was detailed as the military lawyer for Hicks, on November 28th, and had been able to meet with Hicks three times, most recently last week.
Mori said after two years without any outside contact, Hicks was physically doing as well as could be expected under the conditions, but psychologically appeared to be "degenerating" to a point where his concerns were simply with his basic needs of food and shelter.
Mori said the Australian government had been able to accomplish some things in the Hicks case, including assurances no death penalty would be imposed, but he expressed disappointment that as defense counsel he had not been consulted by Australian authorities.
The military lawyer refused to speculate on how soon Hicks may be charged and tried, but said he will need "months" to prepare his client's defense.
"He's been held for two years. It's going to take time to try to locate evidence, to locate witnesses," Mori said.
The Bush administration agreed in November that, if found guilty, Hicks would escape the death penalty and would be sent to Australia to serve any sentence imposed by a U.S. military tribunal. (Full story)
Hicks, 26, is a self-styled "soldier of fortune" who converted to Islam while fighting for the Kosovo Liberation Army.
The Australian government said Hicks moved to Pakistan in November 1999 and trained with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of dozens of Islamic groups fighting to wrest control of Kashmir from India.
He then moved to Afghanistan in 2001 and trained with Osama bin Laden's network, the Australian government said. The Northern Alliance captured him in December 2001 and handed Hicks over to the U.S. military.
He was one of the first detainees transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
