Former Soviet Officer Accused of Being Taliban Fighter Goes on Trial in US

A jury was selected on Thursday ahead of the unprecedented trial of a former Soviet army officer accused of fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, which is taking place in a Virginia US District Court.

Irek Hamidullin, a former officer and tank commander for the Soviet Union in the early 1980s, is the first military prisoner from Afghanistan to face trial in a US federal courtroom.  His charges include supporting terrorists, firearms charges, attempting to destroy a US military aircraft, and conspiracy and attempting to kill a US official.  Some of the 15 terror-related charges against him carry a sentence of life in prison.

Hamidullin is accused of leading three groups of insurgents during a failed 2009 attack on Afghan border police and US military forces in Khowst province. All of the insurgents were killed, but Hamidullin was captured alive after opening fire with a machine gun.  None of the members of police or military forces were killed in the attack.

The jury is made up of nine men and six women, three of which are alternates.  The media was banned from the selection proceedings.

Opening statements are set to begin on Friday, after a request for a continuance by Hamidullin’s federal public defenders was rejected by the judge.  His legal team had argued that they were still reviewing evidence turned over by the prosecution on Saturday.

They also argued that the Department of Defense had introduced a new witness with which they were not previously familiar.  The judge stated that he will hear motions once the trial begins.

The move to try Hamidullin in federal court has sparked outrage among some Republican lawmakers who argued that military trials should be carried out in military tribunals.

The trial is expected to take five days.