Blackwater Guards Finally to be Tried for Killing 14 Iraqi Civilians

April 16th, 2014

Via: AllGov:

One of the darkest episodes during the U.S. occupation of Iraq last decade is finally resulting in the prosecution of private American security guards who killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians in a single incident.

The name Blackwater became famous after the 2007 event in which guards from the security firm’s Raven 23 unit opened fire in Baghdad’s Nisour Square on September 16. The shootings, which the Iraqi government said were unprovoked, killed 14 people and wounded 20 others.

The guards claimed they came under attack from insurgents while carrying out their duties for the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), which had hired the firm that has since undergone multiple name changes (Blackwater Worldwide, then Xe Services, now Academi).

Following the incident, DSS officials forced the Blackwater specialists to provide written statements of the shootings in exchange for full immunity from criminal prosecution. That decision by the State Department derailed the U.S. Department of Justice’s first attempt to prosecute the guards once they returned to the U.S.

A federal appeals court then reinstated the charges, saying the lower court had erred in dismissing the case.

The Justice Department last October filed new charges against four of the guards: Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard, and Nicholas Slatten. The men face multiple counts of voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and firearms violations.

The presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, DC, announced that the new trial will begin on June 11.

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