Trump can forgive soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes: New York Times

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump has called for the preparation of pardon records for several US servicemen accused of war crimes or convicted of war crimes, one of whom should be tried for shooting unarmed civilians in Iraq, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Trump called for the immediate preparation of the necessary documents, stating that he was planning to forgive the men around Memorial Day on May 27, the report said, citing two anonymous US officials. The constitution of rehabilitation files normally takes months, but the Justice Ministry insisted that the work be completed before the holiday weekend, said one of the officials.

One of the requests concerns the Chief of Special Operations, Edward Gallagher, of the Navy's SEAL, who is to be tried in the coming weeks for shooting unarmed civilians and killing a captive enemy with a knife while He was deployed in Iraq.

The case of Major Mathew Golsteyn, an army green beret accused of killing an unarmed Afghan in 2010, would also have been included in the case, the Times said.

Reuters could not immediately identify a way to contact Gallagher and Golsteyn.

The newspaper reported that cases of other men would be included in the documents without naming them.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the report, while the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The legal experts quoted in the report stated that, recently, pardons to several accused and convicted persons, including some who have not yet been tried, have not been handed down and that some people fear that such pardons will harm the legitimacy of military law.