Eight US Marines charged in Iraqi murder, cover-up

Dec 21, 2006, 23:20 GMT

Washington - Four US Marines have been charged with murder in the deaths of more than a dozen Iraqi civilians and another four officers face prosecution for covering up the crimes or failing to investigate them, the US Marine Corps said Thursday.

The killings took place in November 2005 in Haditha, Iraq, a Marine Corps officer said Thursday.

After nearly a year of investigation, US military investigators found that the Marine Corps issued a false press release the day after the killings implying that 15 Iraqi civilians had been killed by a roadside bomb.

'We now know with certainty the press release was incorrect, and that none of the civilians were killed by the IED (Improvised Explosive Device) explosion,' said Col. Stewart Navarre in a press statement issued at Camp Pendleton, California.

Four Marines - Sergeant Sanick P Dela Cruz, Lance Corporals Justin L Sharratt and Stephen B Tatum and Staff Sergeant Frank D Wuterich - are being charged with murder. The names of their victims are listed in the charging documents.

They face life in prison if found guilty.

The cover-up charges allege that Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey R Chessani, First Lieutenant Andrew A Grayson, Captain Lucas M McConnell and Captain Randy W Stone either wilfully failed to report the truth of what happened or failed to carry out a thorough investigation, the documents said.