Another U.S. soldier charged with abuse

? The U.S. Army has filed criminal charges, including adultery, against Military Police Cpl. Charles A. Graner in connection with the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, a senior U.S. officer announced Friday.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the seven charges against Graner included conspiracy to maltreat detainees, dereliction of duty for woefully failing to protect detainees from abuse, maltreatment of detainees, assaulting detainees, committing indecent acts, adultery and obstruction of justice.

Graner, a member of the 372nd Military Police Company, will be arraigned Thursday but no trial date has been set, Kimmitt said. The charge of adultery was for having sex with Pfc. Lynndie England, who was married, the military charge sheet said.

She also faces charges in the prison scandal, and family members have said she was pregnant with Graner’s child.

Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, of Hyndman, Pa., goes on trial Wednesday before a special court-martial in the first trial of defendants in the abuse scandal.

Graner was photographed grinning as he stood behind a pile of naked Iraq prisoners in one of the series of pictures that triggered an international scandal about America’s treatment of captives at the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad.

On Thursday, the military set a May 20 arraignment date for Staff Sgt. Ivan Frederick II and Sgt. Javal S. Davis. Charges against the soldiers were announced Wednesday.

At the arraignment, the men must enter pleas. The military said the date and venue for their trials had not been set. Graner’s attorney, Guy Womack, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that the 35-year-old reservist would plead not guilty.

The charge sheet also accuses Graner of striking several detainees by jumping on them as they piled on the floor of the Abu Ghraib prison. He is also accused of stomping the hands and bare feet of several prisoners.