By Vivek Thiagarajan
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq- Sergeant Evan Vela was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for killing an unarmed Iraqi civilian by court martial in Baghdad.  Sgt. Vela was charged and convicted with murder without premeditation.  He was also charged with planting evidence and making a false statement regarding the incident to his officers.

The action occurred south of Baghdad on May 11, 2006.  The Iraqi civilian stumbled upon a team of six sleeping Army snipers.  Discovering the civilian in their hideout spot, the team feared that the civilian would alert insurgents in the area and jeopardize their safety.  Thus, Vela carried out the team’s plan to kill the Iraqi.  After the killing, the team planted evidence on the civilian, including an AK-47, to make the killing look necessary.

Two other team members, Sergeant Michael Hensley and Special Jorge Sandoval, were also charged with murder, but were cleared during the trial.  However, they were convicted of planting evidence on the dead Iraqi.

Sergeant Vela’s defense team blamed the death on Vela’s lack of rest.  Vela had slept only five hours in the previous three days to the incident, because the snipers had engaged in a a treacherous hike on difficult terrain.

However, the jury found the defendant guilty.  “Vela was sentenced to 10 years confinement. He was also sentenced to a reduction in rank … forfeiture of all pay and allowances and a dishonorable discharge from the army,” reported media officer Lieutenant Patrick Evans. (AFP)

This is an important step for the U.S. military to ensure that the death of Iraqi civilians will not be tolerated.  The military took the correct action of holding the soldier accountable for his individual actions.  Unless the soldiers are held accountable for their actions of killing innocent Iraqis, the peacekeeping force in Iraq will be regarded as enemies who are given absolute immunity for their actions.  This view would further escalate the deaths in Iraq.  Therefore, it was imperative that Sgt. Vela was not given immunity.  This precedent of reduced immunity should also be used to regulate the private actions of hired security forces, such as Blackwater USA.

For more information, please see:

AP- Army Sniper Convicted of Killing Iraqi- 10 February 2008

AFP- 10 years for US sniper who killed unarmed Iraqi– 10 February 2008

BBC- US sniper jailed for Iraqi murder- 10 February 2008

Guardian- US sniper shot unarmed man- 11 February 2008