New York, June 18: The Justice Department has told a federal appeals court there was more than enough untainted evidence to justify a trial for five Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in the 2007 Nisoor Square massacre in Baghdad.
In December, Federal Judge Ricardo Urbina dismissed all charges against the Blackwater guards. But in court papers seeking to reinstate criminal charges, the Justice Department said the judge “unjustifiably drew the curtain on a meritorious prosecution.”
This legal development comes amidst a report that Erik Prince, the owner and founder of the notorious private security firm, could be planning a move to the United Arab Emirates, a country that has no extradition treaty with the United States.
According to independent journalist Jeremy Scahill, three separate sources close to Blackwater and Prince say Prince is planning a move abroad as Blackwater’s legal troubles continue to grow.
Five of Prince’s deputies were indicted on weapons charges in April. Just last week, Prince announced he’s putting Blackwater up for sale, because he no longer wants to deal with the intense criticism the business has faced. A Blackwater spokesperson refused to confirm or deny whether Prince is planning a move abroad.
“Not only are the five top deputies under Prince now facing a fifteen-count indictment that includes allegations that there was an attempt to bribe Jordanian officials, that they hid weapons from ATF investigators, that they conspired to obstruct justice in the investigation of their possession of automatic weapons on their private military base in Moyock, North Carolina,” said Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army.
“But what’s happening now is that these five Blackwater individuals, their lawyers have indicated, at bond hearings and other interactions with the judge in this case where the five Blackwater officials have been indicted, that they were being directed by an unnamed US government agency to do everything that they did,” added Scahill, who is also a Nation Institute fellow and Democracy Now! correspondent.
Scahill said that “Prince knows that there is a strong possibility that he either will be the target of an investigation or could possibly face indictment on anything ranging from the allegations about weapons smuggling to issues that were raised by former Blackwater employees in sworn affidavits last August, namely that Prince may have been involved with murder and with facilitating the murder of individuals who were cooperating with the federal investigation into Blackwater.”
—Agencies