Pope Air Force Base, N.C. – A court-martial has been scheduled next month for a female airman who says she was charged because she refused to testify against three male airmen she had accused of rape.
The woman is charged with one count of committing indecent acts and one count of consuming alcohol as a minor. The defense says the charges against her involve the same men she accused of raping her.
The military won’t identify the men or confirm whether they were ever charged because the case is pending, base spokesman Ed Drohan said Tuesday.
In letters dated June 7 to congressional delegations and governors of North Carolina and her native Texas, the woman said she decided not to testify against the men because she was “under enormous stress.”
The AP generally does not identify victims of sexual assault.
The woman said she was attacked in a barracks room on the night of May 12-13, 2006.
The charges against her allege she performed an indecent act on one of the three men she accused while the other two were witnesses, the defense says.
In her letters, the woman said she reported the attack, was given a medical exam and the three men were charged with rape, but the charges were dropped after she refused to testify.
The men received nonjudicial punishments and have been granted immunity for their testimony in the woman’s trial, according to documents the defense provided.
