Military won’t criminally prosecute soldiers who urinated on corpses, burned Korans

The United States military on Monday announced it will discipline soldiers involved in two high profile incidents in Afghanistan, but they will not face criminal prosecution.

CBS News reported six Army soldiers and three Marines will receive administrative punishments for a video which depicted Marines urinating on corpses, and a second incident, involving burning copies of the Koran.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai had called the video "inhuman," and "initially called for a public trial for the soldiers over the Koran incident," according to Reuters.

Discipline against a Navy sailor in the Koran case was dismissed. The Marine Corps said it will announce discipline against additional Marines in the urination case, CBS reported.

The soldiers were given administrative sanctions which could affect their pay and military rank.

More from GlobalPost: Video accuses US Marines of desecrating Taliban bodies

As GlobalPost previously reported, four US Marines were videotaped urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan earlier this year.

At the time, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta denounced the footage as "utterly deplorable."

The February incident, in which several burned copies of the Koran were found in the trash at Bagram Air Base, sparked several days of violence and rioting against US troops.

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