A Pennsylvania man was arrested Thursday on charges alleging that he tortured
a victim in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2015, after a superseding indictment was returned in the Middle
District of Pennsylvania, reported Jurist.
The grand jury charged Ross Roggio, 53, of
Stroudsburg with directing and participating in the systematic torture of an
employee over the course of 39 days with Kurdish soldiers in Iraq. He was
charged with suffocating the victim with a belt, threatening to cut off one of
the victim’s fingers and directing Kurdish soldiers to inflict severe physical
and mental pain and suffering.
According to the superseding indictment, Roggio was
managing a project in 2015 to construct a factory to produce weapons in the Kurdistan
region of Iraq. When an employee of Roggio raised concerns about the weapons
project, Roggio arranged for Kurdish soldiers to abduct the employee to prevent
any interference with the project. The employee was then detained at a Kurdish
military compound for 39 days, where he was interrogated and tortured by Roggio
and Kurdish soldiers.
Roggio and the Roggio Consulting Company LLC were
also charged in a 37 count-indictment in 2018 for illegally exporting firearms
parts and tools from the US to Iraq as a part of Roggio’s weapons project. The
superseding indictment adds torture charges and conspiracy to commit torture to
these previous charges.
In response to the indictment and arrest, Assistant
Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division said, “The
heinous acts of violence that Ross Roggio directed and inflicted upon the
victim were blatant human rights violations that will not be tolerated.”
Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field
Office added, “Whether in the United States or on foreign soil, heinous acts
like torture violate our laws.”
If convicted, Roggio faces a maximum 20-year
sentence for each torture charge and a maximum total statutory penalty of 705
years in prison for the additional 37 counts. A federal district court judge
will determine his sentence.
To read more CLICK HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment