Marines executed injured Afghan, court martial told
Thursday 24 OcTOber 2013 A ROYAL Marine executed an injured Afghan insurgent then asked colleagues to cover up the incident, a court martial heard yesterday.
The close-range execution was filmed by a helmet-mounted camera – showing “Marine A” shooting the man in the chest at with a 9mm pistol – the court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, was told.
Three marines, known only as Marines A, B and C, were arrested and later charged with murder after the footage was recovered by the Royal Military Police in September last year.
The marines were hidden from the view of the public gallery by a screen, although the judge, Judge Advocate General Jeff Blackett, and the sevenstrong court martial board could see the servicemen.
David Perry QC, prosecuting, explained that the incident had taken place on the afternoon of 15 September, 2011, after a patrol base in Helmand Province had come under attack from two insurgents.
An Apache helicopter was sent to provide air support and soon spotted an insurgent in a field and opened fire, blasting the man with 139 30mm rounds, Mr Perry said.
The pilot and co-pilot did not believe anyone could have survived the cannon fire and so Marine A and his colleagues were told to check the field.
They discovered the Afghan insurgent seriously injured and in possession of an AK47 rifle, two magazines of ammunition and a hand grenade.
Marine A reported back to Operating Base Shahzad that the man was still alive.
Mr Perry said Marine A told the others to move the man from the field to an area where they were less likely to be seen – “knowing full well” what they were about to do.
Mr Perry said Marine A was recorded shooting the Afghan in the chest at close range and after doing so, saying: “There you are. Shuffle off this mortal coil, you ****. It’s nothing you wouldn’t do to us.”
The prosecutor said that Marine A then said to the other marines: “Obviously this doesn’t go anywhere, fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention.”
Mr Perry said: “The prosecution case is that Marine A, using a pistol, deliberately shot and killed the unknown man.
“Although Marine A used his pistol – firing the gun at close range into the injured man’s chest – the case is that Marines B and C were all party to the killing. The prosecution case in respect of Marines B and C is that they encouraged and assisted Marine A in carrying out the killing.”
He added: “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.”
A journal, which had been written by Marine C, gave an insight into what happened during the alleged murder, the court martial heard.
“Marine C gives an account that he was encouraging Marine A to shoot the injured man,” Mr Perry said. “Marine C wanted to shoot him himself and one of the things he said to Marine A is, ‘Shall I shoot him in the head’?.”
Mr Perry said the Afghan man’s body had been left where he was shot and a memorial erected by locals in his memory.
Later his body was removed by locals and therefore there was no post-mortem examination.
Mr Perry said that after the shooting, senior marine officers believed the Afghan had died as a result of cannon fire from the Apache.
Nothing was said by the marines to correct that impression.
In interviews, Marine A said he had fired his pistol at the injured man but at the time “genuinely believed” he was dead.
In later interviews, Marine C was shown the journal he had made of his time in Afghanistan and he said he did not shoot the Afghan.
“I didn’t shoot that man, I didn’t suggest it and I didn’t agree with it and I have played no part in and I have not murdered no-one,” he said.
The marines are accused of murdering an unknown captured Afghan national on or around 15 September, 2011, contrary to Section 42 of the Armed Forces Act 2006.
The court martial journed until today.
The marines each charge.
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