被控在阿富汗屠殺平民的美國士兵週一受審

A U.S. Army soldier accused of an Afghan village massacre is due to appear in a military courtroom Monday, where prosecutors will for the first time lay out their case against him.

Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, who is 39 years old and the father of two, is alleged to have walked out of his southern Afghanistan military base under the cover of darkness March 11, gunning down 16 people, including nine children, in nearby villages. Some of the bodies were set afire.

U.S. forces have paid compensation to families of the dead and to those wounded in the attack.

The preliminary hearing Monday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in (the northwestern U.S. state of )) Washington is an Article 32 hearing designed to determine if Bales should face a court martial.

Relatives of the victims and witnesses are expected to testify via videolink from southern Afghanistan.

Bales could face the death penalty if convicted of the shootings. The U.S. military has not executed a service member in five decades.被控在一個阿富汗村莊製造屠殺事件的一名美國士兵星期一將在一個軍方法庭出庭，檢方將首次提出控詞。

貝爾斯上士現年39歲，他是兩個孩子的父親，被控於今年3月11號趁夜色走出位於阿富汗南部的營地，在附近一個村莊開槍打死16人，其中包括九名兒童。一些屍體被焚燒。

美國軍隊對這次襲擊的死傷者家庭進行了賠償。

星期一，將就貝爾斯一案在華盛頓州的路易斯-邁科德聯合基地進行初步聽證，依照第32條法規判定是否對被告進行軍法審判。

預計，受害者親屬和證人將通過視頻從阿富汗南部提供證詞。

如果被判罪名成立，貝爾斯可能面臨死刑。50年來，美國軍方從未處決過現役軍人。