General Martins submitted his retirement papers on Wednesday after repeatedly butting heads with Biden administration lawyers over positions his office had taken on the applicable international law and the Convention Against Torture at the Guantánamo court, according to senior government officials with knowledge of the disputes. General Martins did not respond to a request for comment.
A key point of contention was a recent decision by General Martins to use a statement that a man accused of orchestrating the U.S.S. Cole bombing in 2000 had made to the C.I.A. while being tortured to make a point with the military judge presiding in that case, which is also a death-penalty prosecution. Defense lawyers for the prisoner, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri of Saudi Arabia, are appealing the admissibility of that evidence.
On the same day General Martins chose to retire, he filed a brief asking the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review for extra time to respond to the appeal.
Stand by for additional reporting as more of the surrounding circumstances emerge.
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