The 10-member panel of officers and enlisted soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, also said Sergeant Adam Holcomb should have his rank reduced to specialist and forfeit about $1,200 in pay.

Holcomb, 30, was convicted on Monday of maltreatment and assault but acquitted on more serious charges of negligent homicide and harassment. The final decision on his sentence rests with the commander of the Army's 18th Airborne Corps.

Military prosecutors accused Holcomb of subjecting Private Danny Chen, 19, to physical mistreatment and racial prejudice that drove the young soldier to take his own life in October 2011. Chen, the only Chinese-American in his unit, shot himself in a guard tower in southern Afghanistan.

During the court-martial that began last week, Holcomb's attorneys said Chen killed himself out of despair over his failures as an infantryman and his parents' disapproval of him joining the Army.

Seven other soldiers, all Chen's superiors, also face charges in connection with his death.