A total of nine Royal Marines have now been arrested on suspicion of murder over the incident, with five of them remaining in custody after being charged.
Four have been released without charge pending further inquiries.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence this morning said: "The Royal Military Police (RMP) has arrested two further Royal Marines on suspicion of murder in relation to an incident alleged to have taken place in Afghanistan in 2011, taking the total number arrests to nine.
“Four Marines have since been released without charge pending further enquiries.
“The RMP has referred the cases of the remaining five Royal Marines to the independent Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA). Following direction from the SPA these marines have now been charged with murder and they remain in custody pending court proceedings.
The servicemen are understood to have been arrested after a video was discovered on a laptop belonging to a Royal Marine.
The clip appears to show members of a Royal Marine patrol standing around a Taliban fighter as he lay injured on the ground in a compound. They were apparently discussing what to do with him and whether to administer first aid but the film is said to cut out before anything happens. The Royal Military Police have confirmed the man died, sources told The Daily Telegraph.
Supposed to meet insurgent activity by throwing roses at them ?
I am fairly sure that on a serious charge such as this (doesn't get any more serious) these guys will be represented by counsel at a court martial, should it come to that. What level of counsel are they entitled to? If they want QCs or some other top barristers to defend them do they have to pay? Pretty unlikely that would be affordable. Think we need Flying Lawyer in on this one if he's still around.
fitliker - not these days they're not, with current ROE in operation. Not that I'm in any way saying it's easy for the guys out there in the situation they have to operate in, but once that laptop's contents were discovered it was never going to be swept under the carpet.
Last edited by Tankertrashnav; 14th Oct 2012 at 20:08.
They were either following orders or they were not.....
If following orders then a more senior officer needs to answer questions.
If not following orders then an investigation and potential Court martial follows.
There is no presumption of guilt BUT wouldn't anybody wish that an investigation occurs as otherwise rogue elements who decide to do as they wish destroy everybody elses name.
Covering up and saying its ok because they are in a uniform ends up with a no limits on what we can do because we won't get charged culture developing.
Good to see their training worked.They are alive and the Taliban terrorist fighting in civilian garb is dead. Job done, give medals and free beer for a month to those who put themselves in harmsway.
Not enough detail to have an opinion, but when will people learn to turn their GD'd cameras and telephone cameras OFF!
Ride a motorcycle way over the speed limit and film it so the police have evidence, attack someone on the street and film it, all these idiots deserve what-ever they get, as long as they are so stupid.
I am not implying that these particular marines did anything in this case, just in general, that this constant filming is incredibly, mind-bogglingly stupid!
Amazed someone filmed it but even more dumbfounded they have been arrested.
Let's hope it turns out like the final result of the Aussie debacle and charges thrown out but hopefully it doesn't take as long.
It won't be too long that soldiers have such a checklist of ROE's to go through the enemy will be long gone before return fire is OK'd from a higher authority
Location: A Whilom nimble brain. With 31 million posts.
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Quote:
. . . that this constant filming is incredibly, mind-bogglingly stupid!
Yep, I remember a BA captain on British television being driven into work after a loooooooooong night of drinking. He just quietly said, 'Cameras are dangerous things.' shortly before his career ended.
Memory tells me of an incident in Vietnam which resulted in an Australian SAS unit inheriting custody of a number of VC prisoners in varying states of disrepair.
The NZ radio operator attached to the unit had requested helicopter evacuation of the wounded prisoners, and was required to relay to the unit the response from those on high that any such helicopter availability was doubtful in the circumstances, and potentially days away at best.
Legend has it that following the relaying of said intel, a brief pause ensued, followed swiftly thereafter by a number of loud reports; immediately subsequent to which, the radio operator informed whoever was listening and making the decisions that evacuation was not necessary after all, as the prisoners had died from their wounds.
I don't believe anyone was charged with anything as a result of the incident on question.
stupid.
