US court dismisses charges against Blackwater security guards
US justice department 'disappointed' by decision to throw out charges against five guards accused of killing up to 17 Iraqis
US justice department 'disappointed' by decision to throw out charges against five guards accused of killing up to 17 Iraqis
A judge in America threw out charges against members of the Blackwater security company yesterday who were accused of killing Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in one of the most notorious incidents since the 2003 invasion.
The ruling will be met with anger in Iraq, where feelings ran high at the time. Fourteen to 17 people were killed in the incident. The Iraqi government had wanted the trial held in Iraq.
Blackwater, now renamed Xe, was notorious in Iraq, where its guards gained a reputation for aggression.
The security guards opened fire while escorting a four-truck convoy of US diplomats through the Iraqi capital on 16 September 2007. At the time Blackwater denied any crime had been committed, saying its staff were operating under official US rules of engagement.
US district judge Ricardo Urbina ruled in favour of the Blackwater men yesterday, saying prosecutors wrongly used against them statements they had given under duress. He said the government's case was built largely on "statements compelled under a threat of job loss in a subsequent criminal prosecution," a violation of their constitutional rights. The state department, which employed Blackwater, had ordered the men to explain what had happened.
Another factor, the judge said, was that the statements had been given under a promise by investigators that they would not be used against them in a criminal case and were only for an internal inquiry.
In a 90-page ruling, Urbina said: "The explanations offered by prosecutors and investigators in an attempt to justify their actions and persuade the court that they did not use the defendants' compelled testimony were all too often contradictory, unbelievable and lacking in credibility."
The US justice department said it was disappointed by the decision.
The use of private security companies such as Blackwater in war zones is not a new phenomenon, but what made it controversial was the sheer number and extent to which the US administration made use of them.
There have been a steady flow of revelations about the extent to which the US military and the CIA involved Blackwater in operations.
Urbina did not say whether he regarded the shooting as illegal, focusing instead on whether the statements of the security guards could be used as evidence.
He said the prosecutors did not stand by the immunity deal that the men reached with investigators, in which their statements could not be used against them. The five guards had faced manslaughter and weapons charges. The charges carried mandatory 30-year prison terms. It is unclear what the ruling means for a sixth Blackwater guard, Jeremy Ridgeway, who turned on his former colleagues and pleaded guilty to killing one Iraqi and wounding another.
The trial had been due to begin on 29 January 29 this year. The five – Paul Slough, Nicholas Slatten, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and Donald Ball – had pleaded not guilty. It had been planned that witnesses would travel from Iraq to give evidence. Mark Hulwater, a defence lawyer respresenting Slough, told the Washington Post: "We are very gratified by the judge's thoughtful and reasoned opinion and we are very happy that Mr Slough can start the New Year without this cloud hanging over his head."
Fonte: The Guardian
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