Judge orders referral of Navy SEAL war crimes prosecutor



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A military judge on Monday sacked the prosecutor in the trial of a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes after the defense team accused the prosecutor of misconduct.

The judge ordered the Cmdr. Christopher Czaplak came out of the trial of Chief of Special Operations Edward Gallagher after his lawyer accused him of spying on their e-mails, according to court documents.

Gallagher is accused of stabbing to death a wounded prisoner of war in Iraq and shooting at unarmed civilians in Afghanistan.

His lawyers argued that the case should be dropped because Czaplak would have monitored emails from the defense team to find the source of leaks to the media.

The defense argued that prosecutors incorporated a tracking code into e-mails addressed to them as well as to a Navy Times reporter who had told several stories about the case.

The military judge said Monday that he did not have the power to judge the prosecutor 's mistakes, but that Czaplak had been removed from office due to the possibility of a conflict. interests.

Last week, the judge ordered Gallagher's release while he was awaiting trial.

"Gallagher's record has been irreparably corrupted by a government campaign of scandalous and illegal behavior," said lawyer Tim Parlatore in an opening motion on Wednesday to dismiss the charges. "This lawsuit threatens to make an unequivocal joke of our justice system."

The navy has announced that it will appoint another lawyer to replace Czaplak.

"Chief Gallagher is entitled to a fair trial and the Navy is committed to this principle," said spokesman Brian O'Rourke.

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