CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Eight Marine reservists stationed at Camp Pendleton have been charged in connection with the June death of an Iraqi man who was held at a detention facility in Iraq, authorities said.

Two of the men, Maj. Clark A. Paulus and Lance Cpl. Christian Hernandez, face negligent homicide charges, said staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon, a Marine spokesman at Camp Pendleton. Charges against the other six range from assault to dereliction of duty.

"I think it's surprising because this is not what Marines do," Lisbon said Friday. "They don't do what these guys are being charged with."

All eight men, who belong to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, are being held at Camp Pendleton. It was not known late Friday who their lawyers were.

Lisbon acknowledged the charges stemmed from a case in which an Iraqi man died while being detained by U.S. authorities. He would not, however, say whether the case in question was that of a 52-year-old Iraqi prisoner of war, whose corpse was found June 6 at a camp run by the 1st Marine Division near Nasiriyah. The man had been held at the camp in southern Iraq since his capture May 3.

Lisbon said Paulus and Hernandez also face lesser charges, including cruelty and maltreatment, and assault.

Three others, Maj. William Vickers, Sgt. Gary Pittman and Lance Cpl. William Roy, also faced charges ranging from dereliction of duty to cruelty.

The remaining three men, Sgt. Albert Rodriquez-Martinez, Lance Cpl. Andrew Rodney and Lance Cpl. Konstantin Mikholap, are each charged with making false official statements and assault, Lisbon said.

The cases will be examined by the military equivalent of a grand jury, which will decide whether the men will be court-martialed.

Lisbon also would not say when the unit was activated for duty nor when it returned to the United States. The unit is in New York, he said.

In a separate case, four military police from a Pennsylvania-based Army Reserve unit were charged in July with punching, kicking and breaking bones of prisoners at Camp Bucca, the largest U.S.-run POW camp in Iraq. Those soldiers and their families have denied the accusations.

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press

###