The families of two Trinidadian men killed in a US strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat have filed a lawsuit against the American government. Lawyers filed the claim in Boston's federal court on behalf of relatives of Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaroo, among six men killed off the coast of Venezuela on 14 October.
One of the lawyers said in a statement that the strike amounted to lawless killings in cold blood; killings for sport and killings for theatre. The US has struck at least 36 vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since September, killing more than 120 people. The Trump administration has stated it is targeting narco-terrorists carrying drugs that kill Americans.
The US has positioned its operations as a non-international armed conflict with the alleged traffickers; however, legal experts say they could be in violation of the laws governing such conflict. This lawsuit was filed on Tuesday under the Death on the High Seas Act, allowing family members to sue for wrongful deaths on the high seas, and is a statute permitting foreign citizens to sue in US courts for violations of international law.
The case was initiated by Joseph's mother and Samaroo's sister, who claim the two men were engaged in fishing and farm work in Venezuela and were returning to Trinidad and Tobago when their boat was struck. Joseph's mother, Sallycar Korasingh, stated that if the US government believed her son had engaged in wrongdoing, it should have arrested, charged and detained him, not murdered him.
The lawsuit argues that the killings should be deemed wrongful deaths as the men were not involved in military hostilities against the US. The Pentagon has not yet responded to requests for comment. The lawsuit follows a trend where families affected by U.S. strikes have sought legal avenues for justice, as highlighted by another case involving a Colombian man killed in a separate strike.
One of the lawyers said in a statement that the strike amounted to lawless killings in cold blood; killings for sport and killings for theatre. The US has struck at least 36 vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since September, killing more than 120 people. The Trump administration has stated it is targeting narco-terrorists carrying drugs that kill Americans.
The US has positioned its operations as a non-international armed conflict with the alleged traffickers; however, legal experts say they could be in violation of the laws governing such conflict. This lawsuit was filed on Tuesday under the Death on the High Seas Act, allowing family members to sue for wrongful deaths on the high seas, and is a statute permitting foreign citizens to sue in US courts for violations of international law.
The case was initiated by Joseph's mother and Samaroo's sister, who claim the two men were engaged in fishing and farm work in Venezuela and were returning to Trinidad and Tobago when their boat was struck. Joseph's mother, Sallycar Korasingh, stated that if the US government believed her son had engaged in wrongdoing, it should have arrested, charged and detained him, not murdered him.
The lawsuit argues that the killings should be deemed wrongful deaths as the men were not involved in military hostilities against the US. The Pentagon has not yet responded to requests for comment. The lawsuit follows a trend where families affected by U.S. strikes have sought legal avenues for justice, as highlighted by another case involving a Colombian man killed in a separate strike.
