Last April the Hancock 38 served this indictment on the 'chain of command' responsible for crimes committed with the drones. Trial begins November 1st

Drones on Trial

The messengers, the Hancock 38, were arrested while the war criminals remain free and many continue to murder people and devastate and terrorize communities around the world.

The Hancock 38 trial begins at 5pm, Nov 1st at the Dewitt Town Court, near Syracuse, NY.

Indictment for Violations of Human Rights

Transcribed from a photograph taken of the Indictment at the April 22, 2011 drone event in Syracuse NY.
The Indictment was created by the Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones & End the Wars.
An attempt was made to present this document to the Air National Guard stationed at Hancock Field, Mattydale, NY -- near Syracuse, NY

We charge the chain of command from President Barack Obama, to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, to Commander Kevin Bradley, to every drone crew:

With the following crimes: extrajudicial killings, violation of due process, wars of aggression, violation of national sovereignty, and the killing of innocent civilians.

We charge that these crimes are committed in violation of the Constitution of the United States of America, Article I, Section 6.11, the Charter of the United Nations, Article 2, Section 4, the Golden Rule and International Law, to which we are especially bound by Article 6 section 2 of the Constitution which states

“...all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and Judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

We demand they immediately stop these crimes.
And be accountable to the people of the United States and Afghanistan.

We appeal to all citizens of the United States, military and civilian, and to all public officials, that we are required by the Nuremburg Principles I - VI and by Conscience to refuse to participate in these crimes, to denounce them and to resist them nonviolently.

Indictment

We charge the Air National Guard of the United States of America, headquartered at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, home of the 174th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard, under the command of 174th Fighter Wing Commander Col. Kevin W. Bradley, is maintaining and utilizing MQ-9 Reaper Drones for use in combat.

Extrajudicial targeted killings by the use of unmanned aircraft drones by the United States of America are intentional, premeditated and deliberate use of lethal force in violation of the US and international human rights law.

The US has used drones for targeted killing in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Pakistan with no legal basis for defining the scope of the area where drones can and cannot be used, no rigorous

criteria for deciding which people will be targeted for killing, no procedural safeguards to ensure the legality and accuracy of the killings, and no mechanisms of accountability.

In support of this indictment we cite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, who has said that the use of drones is

“...a highly probable blurring and expansion of the boundaries of the applicable legal frameworks – human rights law, the laws of war, and the law applicable to the use of inter-state force...The result has been the displacement of clear legal standards with a vaguely defined license to kill, and the creation of a major accountability vacuum.... In terms of the legal framework, many of these practices violate straightforward legal rules..”

See United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council Study on Targeted Killings, 28 May 2010. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/14session/A.HRC.14.24.Add6.pdf

Let all accused in this indictment understand that our words are spoken nonviolently. All are invited to stop the use of drones and refuse to participate in illegal warfare.

1.

2. 3.

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References

Principles of International Law Recognized in the Charter of the Nüremberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal, 1950: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/full/390

Charter of the United Nations: http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/index.shtml

National Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution: http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/art6_user.html#art6_hd4

-thanks to the Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars