Royal marine officer jailed for ten years for killing injured Taliban

An experienced Royal Marine filmed
executing an injured Taliban insurgent in
cold blood has been given a ten year
minimum jail sentence. Sergeant Alexander Blackman, 39, whose
name was made public for the first time
yesterday following a ruling by judges at the
High Court in London, was convicted last
month of murdering the Afghan national in
Helmand Province in September 2011. Two other comrades, known only
as Marine B and Marine C, were acquitted
of murder by the court martial board in
Bulford, Wiltshire. The killing happened five months into an
arduous six-month tour of Helmand province
in 2011, known as Operation Herrick 14. Blackman shot the Afghan, who had been
seriously injured in an attack by an Apache
helicopter, in the chest at close range with a
9mm pistol before quoting a phrase from
Shakespeare as the man convulsed and
died in front of him. "There you are. Shuffle off this mortal coil,
you c***. It's nothing you wouldn't do to us,"
Blackman told him. Blackman then turned to comrades and
said: "Obviously this doesn't go anywhere,
fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention." The execution was filmed by a camera
mounted on the helmet of Marine B. Marines B and C were alleged to have been
"party to the killing" and "encouraged and
assisted" Marine A in committing the murder
but they were cleared. Blackman was given a life sentence with the
minimum term decided by the seven-man
court martial board made up of senior non-
commissioned officers and officers, and
Judge Advocate General Jeff Blackett. During his evidence at the court martial,
Blackman, who denied murder, admitted he
fired his gun out of anger but insisted the
insurgent was already dead. Blackman explained to the court martial why
he fired: "Stupid, lack of self-control,
momentary lapse in my judgment. "I thought about it over the last year as we
get towards these proceedings but I cannot
give any other reason than to say that it was
poor judgment and lack of self-control. I
thought he was dead." He blamed "foolish bravado" for quoting
Shakespeare at the dying man and said it
was something "I am not proud of". Blackman, who completed tours of Iraq,
Afghanistan and Northern Ireland during his
military career, had 15 years experience in
the Royal Marines. He was in charge of Command Post Omar
in Helmand during the tour and was
considered a safe pair of hands by his
superiors. At 6ft 3in, he was a physically
imposing Marine who always led from the
front and was an expert in heavy weapons,
including machine guns. Blackman was credited with building good
relations with the local population. His role in Afghanistan also included taking
part in shuras - meetings with community
leaders and elders. Prior to a video of the murder coming to
light, Blackman was being considered for
promotion to colour sergeant. The judge told Blackman, who stood to
attention to hear the sentence, that he had
disgraced the name of the British armed
services and had put troops' lives at risk by
his actions. "This was not an action taken in the heat of
battle or immediately after you had been
engaged in a firefight," the judge said. "Nor were you under any immediate threat -
the video footage shows that you were in
complete control of yourself, standing
around for several minutes and not
apparently worried that you might be at risk
of attack by other insurgents. "You treated that Afghan man with contempt
and murdered him in cold blood. By doing
so you have betrayed your corps and all
British service personnel who have served in
Afghanistan, and you have tarnished their
reputation. "In one moment you undermined much of
the good work done day in day out by British
forces and potentially increased the risk of
revenge attacks against your fellow service
personnel. "You have failed to demonstrate the self-
discipline and restraint that is required of
service personnel on operations, and which
sets British troops apart from the enemy
they fight." The judge said: "Of course sitting in a
courtroom in middle England is a far cry
from the brutality of the conflict in
Afghanistan, but you have been judged here
by the board made up of service personnel
who understand operational service because they too have experienced it. "Many people have expressed views on
your sentence in the media demanding a
severe punishment on one hand and
leniency on the other. "However, you are not being tried by the
media or by those who express themselves
vociferously. "This offence is unique and unprecedented
in recent history. You were in a tough
operational environment where you were
legally entitled to use lethal force against the
enemy. "Whilst carrying out your duty, you came
across a very seriously wounded enemy
combatant. You were obliged to care for him
but instead you executed him. "That is a wholly different matter from the
cases of murder in the UK normally
considered by the civilian courts but we are
still required by law to apply the same law
which those courts are required to apply. "The victim was particularly vulnerable
because he was seriously wounded and
lying helpless and in obvious pain while you
considered what to do with him. "Your actions have put at risk the lives of
other British service personnel. You have
provided ammunition to the terrorists whose
propaganda portrays the British presence in
Afghanistan as part of a war on Islam in
which civilians are arbitrarily killed. "That ammunition will no doubt be used in
their programme of radicalisation. That
could seriously undermine the reputation of
British forces and ultimately the mission in
Afghanistan. "As I have already said, committing this sort
of act could well provoke the enemy to act
more brutally towards British troops in
retribution or reprisal. "You were in charge of the patrol and it was
incumbent upon you to set the standards.
Long before you shot the insurgent you
should as a senior non-commissioned
officer have shown better leadership to
young and less experienced men. "In fact you abused your position of trust by
involving the other junior and subordinate
members of your patrol in covering up what
you had done and lying on your behalf." Speaking through his solicitor Issy Hogg,
Blackman said he was "devastated" by the
sentence. The statement read: "Sgt Blackman and his
wife are devastated by the life sentence
imposed upon him together with the order
than he serve a minimum of 10 years before
he is eligible for parole. "Furthermore, he has been dismissed, with
disgrace, from the Royal Marines, with
whom he has served proudly for 15 years. "He is very sorry for any damage caused to
the Royal Marines. "Finally, Sgt Blackman thanks the public for
the support shown to him and his wife."