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MONTEVIDEO — A military judge ordered five Uruguayan sailors accused of sexually abusing a young Haitian man jailed until a tribunal decides whether to dishonorably discharge them, a spokeswoman said Monday.
The sailors, who were serving as U.N. peacekeepers, returned to the South American country from Haiti on Friday. On Sunday the judge ordered them held in preventive detention on charges of disobeying orders and dereliction of duty.
The decision cannot be appealed, said Marta Iturvide, a spokesman for the military tribunal.
Once the military is done with the sailors, their case would pass to Uruguay's civilian courts, where a judge is investigating the abuse charges.
President Jose Mujica has said the men would face the most severe penalties if convicted.
A cell phone video of the alleged abuse inside a U.N. base in Port-Salut has given momentum to rock-throwing protests in Port-au-Prince ahead of a pending U.N. decision on extending the peacekeeping mission in Haiti.
Haitian President Michel Martelly, who said his nation was deeply hurt by the episode, is expected to call for keeping most of the 12,000 U.N. troops to prevent chaos in the country, which remains politically unstable and economically destroyed after repeated natural disasters.
The accused men have not commented publicly on the charges and their names have not been released.
