The U.N. human rights office says it’s “very concerned” about U.S. President Donald Trump’s exoneration of three U.S. servicemen accused of war crimes, calling one pardon in a pending case “particularly troubling”, VOA news reports.
Office spokesman Rupert Colville said Tuesday the moves “run against the letter and the spirit of international law” requiring accountability for such violations and send a “disturbing signal” to military forces worldwide.
One of the pardons announced Friday went to Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, a former Green Beret accused of killing a suspected bomb-maker in Afghanistan in 2010. Golsteyn believed the man was a legal target and was responsible for an explosion that killed two U.S. Marines.
Colville called that pardon “particularly troubling” because it cut short judicial processes. Golsteyn was to stand trial by court-martial in February.