The United Nations declared that lame duck president Donald Trump’s pardons for four Blackwater military contractors who were convicted of felonies for the homicides of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians were illegal under international law, Reuters reports.
“Pardoning the Blackwater contractors is an affront to justice and to the victims of the Nisour Square massacre and their families,” said Jelena Aparac, chair of the U.N. working group on the use of mercenaries, said in a statement. “These pardons violate U.S. obligations under international law and more broadly undermine humanitarian law and human rights at a global level.”
Nicholas Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder, while Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted of voluntary and attempted manslaughter. The four worked for a paramilitary organization owned by Erik Prince, the brother of Trump’s secretary of education, Betsy DeVos.