A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a second court martial for a US military officer who openly refused to go to war in Iraq.
Judge Benjamin Settle issued a preliminary injunction saying a second court martial for First Lieutenant Ehren Watada might violate his constitutional rights to avoid legal double jeopardy, or being tried for the same crime twice.
Watada's first court martial ended in a mistrial in February.
The officer's attorney Ken Kagan called the decision an "enormous victory, but it is not yet over."
The burden now appeared to be on government prosecutors to persuade the judge to lift the injunction and go ahead with the court martial, Kagan said in an e-mail.
The ruling from a federal court in Tacoma, Washington made it less likely Watada would face a second court martial, he said.
Watanda, who has accused President George W. Bush of betraying the public trust, refused to deploy with his unit to Iraq because he argued the war was illegal and immoral. He said taking part would make him a "party to war crimes."
Although the US military says a soldier must respect the chain of command and cannot choose which war to fight in, Watada has said that under the US constitution he has the right to refuse an illegal order.
Watada requested he be transferred to another unit and proposed that he be deployed to Afghanistan. But he was turned down.
He is the first US military officer to openly refuse to deploy to Iraq.
Just days before his second court martial was to begin, Watada's lawyers filed a motion for an emergency stay in civilian court.
Watada is stationed at Fort Lewis, in the northwestern state of Washington. He has been on administrative duty since refusing to deploy.
Watada's service period ended in December 2006, but the pending trial has prevented him from being discharged.
