A prisoner was murdered in cold blood in Afghanistan by a Royal Marines patrol after they had found him lying injured and helpless in a field, a court martial has heard. Footage of the alleged “battlefield execution” of the Taliban fighter in Helmand two years ago was recorded by the helmet camera of one of the alleged killers and shown to the proceedings at a military tribunal in Bulford, Wiltshire. Leaning to fire a bullet into the chest of the young Afghan covered in blood, a sergeant in charge of the group was heard to say: “There you are, shuffle off this mortal coil you cunt, it’s nothing you wouldn’t have done to us.” Turning to other marines, he added: “Obviously this don’t go anywhere fellas, I’ve just broken the Geneva Convention.” The victim was left twitching and gasping for breath as the British servicemen, apprehensive that they might have been spotted, pretended to give him first aid. They then called in their base, saying the man had died from the injuries he had already suffered in a helicopter strike, the court was told. There have been several high-profile prosecutions of British service personnel over killings of civilians in Iraq but this is the first case of UK personnel charged with murder in the course of the mission in Afghanistan. David Perry QC, prosecuting, said: “The video speaks for itself. It clearly shows they killed an injured man; it shows they lied about the circumstances in which the injured man met his death. It was not a killing in the heat and exercise of any armed conflict. The prosecution case is that it amounted to an execution, a field execution. An execution of a man who was entitled to be treated with dignity and respect and entitled to be treated as any British serviceman or servicewoman would be entitled to be treated in a similar situation.” independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/marines-murdered-man-live-on-camera-court-martial-sees-graphic-footage-of-execution-of-injured-taliban-fighter-8899912.html
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 21:37:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015