Relatives of two Trinidadian men killed last year in a US military strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Tuesday against the US government.
It is the first such case to be brought against the Trump administration over the three dozen missile strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which have left at least 125 people dead since September.
The suit, filed in a federal court in Massachusetts, is being brought by the families of Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, who were among six people killed in an October 14 strike in the Caribbean.
President Donald Trump alleged at the time that “six male narcoterrorists” were killed in a boat allegedly ferrying drugs from Venezuela to the United States.
Washington has yet to release any evidence supporting its claims that the targeted boats have links to drug cartels designated by Trump as terrorist organizations.
“The United States’ unlawful killings of persons at sea including Mr Joseph and Mr Samaroo constitute wrongful deaths and extrajudicial killings,” the complaint says. “These premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification.
“Thus, they were simply murders, ordered by individuals at the highest levels of government and obeyed by military officers in the chain of command.”
The case is being brought under the Death on the High Seas Act, which allows for redress for wrongful deaths at sea, and the Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreigners to file suit in US courts for rights violations.
Plaintiffs in the case are Lenore Burnley, Joseph’s mother, and Sallycar Korasingh, Samaroo’s sister, and they are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).
The family members are seeking punitive damages, the amount of which would be determined at trial.
“These are lawless killings in cold blood; killings for sport and killings for theater,” CCR legal director Baher Azmy said.
The suit is “a critical step in ensuring accountability, while the individuals responsible may ultimately be answerable criminally for murder and war crimes,” Azmy added.
– ‘Must be held accountable’ –
In a statement, Korasingh said her brother, who had spent 15 years in prison for participation in a homicide, “was a hardworking man who paid his debt to society and was just trying to get back on his feet again.”
“If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him, not murdered him,” she said.
According to the complaint, neither man was affiliated with drug cartels and they were simply hitching a ride back to Trinidad from Venezuela, where they had been engaged in fishing and farm work.
In December, the family of a Colombian man killed in another strike lodged a complaint with the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The family of Alejandro Carranza Medina, 42, who was killed on September 15, rejected assertions there were drugs on his vessel and said he was a fisherman doing his job on the open sea.
The complaint accuses the United States of violating Carranza’s right to life and to due process.
The IACHR is a quasi-judicial body of the Organization of American States, created to promote and protect human rights in the region.
