WASHINGTON
A U.S. court has sentenced four former Blackwater security contractors to lengthy prison terms for killing 14 Iraqi civilians.
A federal judge in Washington D.C. jailed Nicholas Slatten for life while Paul Slough, 35, Evan Liberty, 32, and Dustin Heard, 33, were imprisoned for 30 years over the September 2007 killings.
The men opened fire on a crowd in Baghdad’s Nisour Square to clear the way for a U.S. convoy, wounding a further 17 civilians. The incident sparked outrage over the use of private contractors in Iraq and other conflict zones.
Slatten, 31, had been charged with first degree murder over the killings while the other men faced charges of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.
Their lawyers had claimed the men, all U.S. military veterans, came under fire from insurgents and said they would appeal.
Blackwater, founded by a former U.S. Navy SEAL in 1997, became a symbol of the unchecked private military sector after the shootings. In 2009, the company changed its name to Xe Service before switching to Academi.
