The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
July 8, 2009

Admin Officials Give Diverging Stance on Admissibility of Coerced Testimony
---------------------------------------------------------------------------



Also at the hearing, Obama administration officials offered diverging
views on whether prisoners can be prosecuted for testimony obtained
through torture. Justice Department National Security Division head
David Kris said federal courts might reverse convictions based on
statements obtained through coercion. But Vice Admiral Bruce Mac Donald,
the Navy’s judge advocate general, said the admissibility of prisoners’
statements should be based on whether they’re “reliable”, not whether
they were coerced or not.



.