US air force victim of sexual assault facing 'capricious' prosecution

Source: Guardian

US air force victim of sexual assault facing 'capricious' prosecution

Adam Cohen says air force is punishing him for reporting sexual assault from years earlier by higher ranking army major

Karen McVeigh in Wichita
guardian.co.uk, Monday 15 July 2013 12.56 EDT

The death threats began again shortly after Lieutenant Adam Cohen, a combat systems engineer in the US air force, returned from Afghanistan in October 2011. The messages, littered with obscenities and urging him to take his own life, were linked, he believes, to an alleged rape he had not reported from years earlier.

But when Cohen, 29, reported the threats and the alleged sexual assault to his chain of command, he found himself under investigation.

On Monday, in a turn of events that has been called into question by two senators, advocates groups and the special victims counsel the air force employed to help him, Cohen faces a court martial, accused of multiple charges.

Cohen was due to plead guilty to the charges against him on Monday. He told the Guardian that he took the decision in order to stop his alleged rapist, who is now a US army major, from testifying in court against him.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/15/us-air-force-sexual-assault-adam-cohen