A US air force engineer has been dismissed from the US military and sentenced to 15 months in jail after he reported a sexual assault.
Lieutenant Adam Cohen came under investigation after he reported an alleged sexual assault from years earlier and threats he linked to the alleged rape.

After he returned from Afghanistan in 2011, Cohen received a barrage of messages replete with obscenities which even urged him to take his own life.

Cohen believed the threats were related to the alleged sexual assault. However, after he reported the assault and the threats, he found himself being prosecuted for charges such as making false statements to investigators and criminal offences akin to federal wiretapping.

On Tuesday, a court martial sentenced Cohen to 15 months in prison and he was held at a military facility at McConnell air base in Kansas, expecting to be taken to a military prison.

Cohen told the Guardian before his trial that he intended to plead guilty to the charges against him because he did not want to face his alleged rapist, who is now a US army major.

�I don't want to be in the court room with my rapist testifying against me because it would feel like being raped all over again,� Cohen said.

Cohen also said that he has no faith in the US military system which not only does nothing to protect sexual assault victims but also colludes with the attackers.

�I've seen people admitting harassment and no action was taken. I've seen an open sexual assault investigation, where the air force is colluding with the assailant to testify against the victim. Throughout the entire time they were supposed to inform me of my rights and they didn't. What message does it send?� he said.

A report released by the US Defense Department in May estimated that cases of sexual abuse in the military increased nearly 40 percent last year, to about 26,000 cases from 19,000 in 2011.

As in the case of Cohen, the Pentagon report also found that 62 percent of those who report sexual abuse in the military are faced with some sort of retaliation for reporting their cases.

By Press TV

 

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