A U.S. Marine officer will be court-martialed more than a year after video footage surfaced on YouTube of snipers urinating on dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
Capt. James V. Clement is the officer who oversaw the platoon involved in the video released in January 2012. He is charged with dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming of an officer, and for failing to stop the misconduct of junior Marines,
NBC News reports.
Clement refused the nonjudicial punishment recommended in an April hearing, resulting in the court-martial.
The Marine captain's attorney said that Clement followed his assignment faithfully that day, and that he "refuses to be a scapegoat for the political hysteria" over the video, Marine Corps Times reports.
Clement claims in a sworn statement the he was not aware of the videos until they were made public.
Three Marines in the video pleaded guilty of charges relating to their conduct in the video and already served out nonjudicial punishments in August. Another Marine is awaiting trial.
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