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Blackwater prosecution could be on again

WASHINGTON, April 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. appeals court ordered Friday the judge who dismissed charges against Blackwater contractors involved in an Iraqi shooting to re-examine the case.

The ruling could revive the legal case against four contractors who had been charged with manslaughter, The Washington Post reported.

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"This doesn't guarantee that the case is alive again," Robert M. Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas and expert on national security, told the Post. "But it makes that possible."

Blackwater contractors guarding a convoy opened fire in a busy Baghdad square in September 2007, killing at least 14 people. While the contractors said they had been fired at, investigations later concluded the shooting was unjustified and those killed were civilians.

The contractors, under Blackwater's agreement with the U.S. government, were immune from Iraqi prosecution. Several contractors were charged in the United States but U.S. District Judge Richard Urbina dismissed the case, determining the indictment was based on statements given when the defendants had been told they would not be prosecuted.

The appellate court concluded Urbina was too sweeping in dismissing evidence.

A Justice Department spokesman said prosecutors were reviewing the decision.

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Blackwater's reputation had already been damaged by earlier incidents. After the Nisoor Square shooting, the company's name was changed to Xe.

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