Archive · 2004 · From the print edition of Friday 10 December 2004, Vol. 12, No. 3,677
CourtsSoldiers acquitted over wedding minibus deaths
A court-martial at Talas Air Base found that the two soldiers charged over the June shooting followed the rules of engagement. Talas is angry.
TALAS — A US court-martial at Talas Air Base yesterday acquitted the two soldiers charged with negligent homicide over the shooting of a wedding minibus on the Trans-Talas Highway in June, in which five people were killed. The court found that they had followed the rules of engagement.
The territorial government and Iradi lawyers had asked for the case to be heard in an Iradi court. Under the 2001 basing agreement it went to the court-martial instead. The families, who were allowed to attend, left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.
The US command paid the families condolence payments of US$2,500 for each death in July, a sum that has been widely described in Talas as an insult. A lawyer for the families said they would ask the Territorial Legislature to press again for Iradi jurisdiction over US personnel. "The court has told us what the rules are," he said. "Now we know what our lives are worth under them."
Within hours of the verdict, people had begun to gather again with candles on the highway. The Jer-Suu Party and the Labor Party of Irad called for a march to the High Commissioner's residence on Sunday.