AFP
A United Nations committee said that the amnesty issued by President Donald Trump for former Blackwater members who were found guilty of a massacre in Baghdad in 2007 violates international law.
The United Nations Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries condemned the measure and described Trump’s decision to pardon the four men as an “affront to justice and the memory of the dead.”
“The pardon of Blackwater contractors is an affront to justice and to the victims of the Nisour Square massacre and their families,” said group president Jelena Ibarac.
She emphasized that “the amnesty decisions violate the obligations of the United States under international law and undermine more broadly humanitarian law and human rights at the global level.”
On December 23, Trump issued a full pardon for 4 former members of the private military company, Blackwater, who were convicted of committing a massacre that left 14 civilians dead in Baghdad in 2007.
And the names of Nicholas Slaten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were included in the list of exemptions published by the White House, which originally provided for 15 full pardons and reduced sentences for five others.
The statement stated that the exemption of these four “veterans”, who are former soldiers, enjoys “broad support from public opinion and elected officials,” adding that they have “a long history of serving their country.”
Source: RT + The Hill
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