The head of army forces command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, General Robert Abrams on Monday ordered that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl [BBC profile] face court martial for deserting an endangering troops by leaving his outpost in 2009. Bergdahl faces a possible life sentence [NYT report], a much more severe punishment than had initially been recommended by the army’s investigating officer who testified at the sergeant’s preliminary hearing in September. The investigating officer had stated that prison time for Bergdahl’s offense would be inappropriate. Bergdahl’s current defense attorneys also pointed to the recommendation of the army lawyer, who presided over Bergdahl’s September hearing, that he face no jail time. According to Bergdahl’s attorneys, the army lawyer also recommended that Bergdahl go before an intermediate tribunal where the harshest penalty possible would have been a year of confinement. This recent decision means that Bergdahl faces life imprisonment on the more serious charge of misbehavior before the enemy for endangering troops sent to search for him after he disappeared. The army said that the next hearing will be held at Fort Bragg, although it mentioned no specific dates for the hearing.

Bergdahl actions in 2009 resulted in a huge manhunt in Afghanistan, which ultimately led to his capture by the Taliban’s Haqqani Network [CNN backgrounder] insurgents in June 2009. Bergdahl was imprisoned for nearly five years in eastern Afghanistan. During the time he was held as prisoner, Bergdahl appeared in six videos [advocacy website] released by the Taliban, the only indication that he was still alive. In March the US military charged [JURIST report] Bergdahl with “desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty” and “misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit, or place.” Last year Bergdahl was exchanged [JURIST report] for five Taliban members who were held at the Guantanamo Bay detention complex. In September, lawyers for Bowe Bergdahl filed a petition [text, PDF] with the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals asking for the public release [JURIST report] of unclassified documents that were admitted into evidence in a public preliminary hearing earlier that month. Some of these documents included an interview conducted with Major General Kenneth Dahl who had stated in a military hearing that he does not believe Bergdahl should be given jail time and that Bergdahl did not sympathize with the Taliban but did think his unit was in danger.