The U.S. Department of Justice announced five Blackwater security guards have been indicted on manslaughter and weapons charges based on their alleged involvement in a fatal shooting in Baghdad in September 2007.
Digital Journal — A 35-count indictment has been unsealed today, revealing the charges against five security guards who worked for the contracted firm Blackwater. The defendants are charged with killing 14 unarmed civilians and wounding 20 other people during a shooting incident that occurred in Nisur Square in Baghdad, Iraq. Shortly after the September 2007 shooting, the FBI said they would investigate the security personnel involved in the incident.
The indictment charges each of the former guards with 14 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime.
The American defendants will appear in court today in Salt Lake City at 1:30 p.m. (Mountain Time). If convicted (Digital Journal will update this story as it happens), each defendant could face a potential maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment for each count of manslaughter, seven years of imprisonment for each count of attempt to commit manslaughter, and a mandatory minimum imprisonment of 30 years for the firearms count.
Patrick Rowan, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said in the DOJ press release:
The government alleges in the documents unsealed today that at least 34 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including women and children, were killed or injured without justification or provocation by these Blackwater security guards in the shooting at Nisur Square. Today’s indictment and guilty plea demonstrate that those who engage in unprovoked and illegal attacks on civilians, whether during times of conflict or times of peace, will be held accountable.
The men named in the indictment are Donald Ball, 26, of West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard, 27, of Maryville, Tennessee; Evan Liberty, 26, of Rochester, New Hampshire; Nicholas Slatten, 24, of Sparta, Tennessee; and Paul Slough, 29, of Keller, Texas.
Also worth noting in this case is how the State Department, which employed Blackwater to protect U.S. diplomats, renewed the company’s contract this year over strong objections from the Iraqi government.
