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Emotional Testimony: Bales' Sentencing Trial Begins For Massacre In Afghanistan

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AP Photo/Peter Millett

Staff Sgt Robert Bales, who pleaded guilty in June to the murder of 16 Afghan civilians, is being tried before a military jury of six who will decide whether he should be eligible for parole. Nine Afghan villagers who survived the massacre have flown to Joint Base Lewis-McChord for the sentencing trial.

One survivor, 60-year-old Haji Mohammed Naim, confronted Bales in the courtroom on Tuesday. BBC News reports,

Naim was shot in the face at close range while his son was killed in the attack, near a remote base in Kandahar province."What have I done for you to shoot me in the jaw?" Mr Naeem asked the killer.

KUOW's Austin Jenkins has been on base following the trial; he describes the testimony and scene.

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