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Kyle Snyder

In Exile
Date of birth:12. 09. 1983
Age:42
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:2000s
State:Colorado
Support
Anti-War
No image available

Biography

Kyle Snyder, born September 12, 1983 and raised partly in foster care in Colorado, enlisted in the United States Army in 2004 and served in Iraq with the 94th Engineers out of Fort Leonard Wood. In 2005, while on mid-tour leave, he went to Canada, called the war illegal and immoral, and applied for refugee status. On October 31, 2006 he held a press conference and then surrendered to Army authorities at Fort Knox, Kentucky, having been told through his lawyer that he would be discharged quickly and not imprisoned; when he was instead faced with returning to Iraq or going to prison, he left again and travelled the United States speaking against the war.

On February 23, 2007 he was arrested by police in Nelson, British Columbia, at the request of the United States Army. The police had no warrant; he was taken in wearing a robe and boxer shorts, not permitted to dress or to call his lawyer, and was released after roughly six hours when immigration officials confirmed there was no legal basis to hold him.

Whereabouts unverified: no credible recent source has been found locating him, and his country is uncertain — Canada or unknown. No exile start date is recorded on his case, because his time abroad was interrupted by the October 2006 surrender and nothing has documented his location since February 2007. He is recorded here as currently in exile on the assumption that he remains abroad.

Case

Charges: Desertion from the United States Army — left while on mid-tour leave from Iraq, 2005; absent again after the October 31, 2006 surrender at Fort Knox
Sentence: None imposed. Arrested without warrant at Nelson, British Columbia on February 23, 2007 at the request of the United States Army and released after about six hours, immigration officials having found no legal basis to detain him.
Convicted: No — never tried