Royal Marines general calls for lenient sentence in Afghan 'execution'

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/09/royal-marines-general-punishment-afghan-murder-harsh

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A distinguished Royal Marines general has called for leniency towards a fellow commando who executed an injured Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan.

Major-General Julian Thompson refused to condemn the marine, who was convicted on Friday of murdering the seriously wounded prisoner in Helmand Province two years ago.

Thompson, who led 3 Commando Brigade during the Falklands War, told The Times a five-year prison term would be more suitable than life imprisonment.

The serviceman, a sergeant known as Marine A, was found guilty of murder following a two-week court martial and faces a mandatory life term.

Two others, known only as Marines B and C, were cleared of the same charge.

Thompson said the shorter prison term was more appropriate for a crime committed under the unique pressures of war.

He said that "obviously it was wrong and everyone in the Royal Marines is quite clear about that".

But he added: "The Royal Marines are a family and it feels as though a member of the family has transgressed.

"I am sad for the man who did it, in that he probably had a moment of stupidity. I feel for him as I would my own son who might do something stupid."

He said accepting an enemy's surrender on the battlefield was "a very, very dangerous time", and told the Daily Mail: "I have no sympathy for the man who was killed but Marine A did the wrong thing by shooting him.

"But I'm not going to stand around bad-mouthing him. I won't condemn him. It is like a member of the family who has broke the law – you don't reject them, but you support them."

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