US authorities on Jan. 7 announced charges against two former employees of security firm Blackwater in connection with the May 5 shooting death of two Afghans in Kabul. Justin Cannon and Christopher Drotleff each face 13 counts under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA), including two counts of second-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and discharging a firearm during a violent crime, for which they could receive life in prison or the death penalty if convicted. The men are accused of shooting three men, reportedly during a traffic incident, while working for Blackwater subsidiary Paravant LLC, under contract with the US Department of Defense to provide weapons training to the Afghan National Army. (Jurist [2], Jan. 8)
See our last posts on Blackwater [3] and civilian casualties in Afghanistan [4].
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