Bowe Bergdahl, a former prisoner of war in Afghanistan who was swapped for five Taliban leaders in 2014, will make an appearance at a preliminary hearing on Thursday. A military court will determine whether he should face a court-martial over charges of desertion and misbehavior.

Bergdahl, now 29, disappeared on June 30, 2009, from Combat Outpost Mest-Lalak in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and was later captured by the militants, Reuters reported. After five years in the hands of the Taliban, he was freed in a prisoner exchange that allowed five combatants held at Guantanamo to resettle in Qatar.

Key Republicans had been critical of the deal, and military prosecutors later reached into what the Associated Press called a rarely used section of military law to charge Bergdahl with "misbehavior before the enemy," a much rarer offense that carries a harsher potential penalty in this case.

"I've never seen it charged," Walter Huffman, a retired major general who served as the Army's top lawyer, told the newswire about the misbehavior charge. "It's not something you find in common everyday practice in the military."

Bergdahl's lead attorney, Eugene Fidell, has said Thursday's hearing would provide the public with details about what led to the soldier's disappearance, according to the AP. He has cited an Army investigation that determined Bergdahl left his post -- but did not desert from the Army -- and that his "specific intent was to bring what he thought were disturbing circumstances to the attention of the nearest general officer."

Fidell and Bergdahl's other attorneys are likely to argue their client's years of being held captive by the Taliban were punishment enough. Military prosecutors, meanwhile, declined to discuss the Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a grand jury investigation under civilian law.

The proceeding will take place at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where Bergdahl has been stationed since shortly after his release in the summer of 2014, Reuters detailed. The presiding officer will later recommend the course of action for the soldier's case.