Former Blackwater guard to serve three years for Afghan shooting

Jun 14, 2011, 21:30 GMT

Washington - A former Blackwater guard was sentenced to more than three years in prison on Tuesday for his role in the shooting death of an Afghan citizen two years ago.

Christopher Drotleff, 31, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, received a 37-month sentence for the killing while in an unauthorized convoy in Kabul on May 5, 2009, the US Justice Department said. Another individual involved in the shooting, Justin Cannon, 29, of Corpus Christi, Texas, is to be sentenced later this month.

Both men were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and had worked for Xe Services, which was previously known as Blackwater. The firm is a security contractor for the US government. At the time of the killing, Drotleff and Cannon were contractors for the military.

'Mr Drotleff's criminal conduct led to a tragic loss of innocent life,' said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said. 'We hope that today's sentence will bring some measure of comfort to the victims' families.'

Blackwater gained international attention when its guards allegedly opened fire unprovoked in Baghdad in September 2007, killing 17 Iraqi civilians while protecting a diplomatic convoy. The US government also pursued criminal charges in that case.

The use of the security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan has been a source of tension between the US government and those two countries.

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