00:00The deaths of 26-year-old Chad Joseph and 41-year-old Rishi Samaru, believed to be killed in a U.S. missile strike on October 14th last year, have taken a new turn as civil rights attorneys filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the United States government on behalf of the men's families.
00:17Attendees held a virtual media briefing to speak about the pending lawsuit.
00:21The lawsuit, which was initially leaked to the United Kingdom Guardian a few hours before the virtual briefing, stated that Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaru, both of Las Cravers, Trinidad, were returning to Trinidad from Venezuela when they and four other people were killed in the strike.
00:36It was the fifth attack announced by the White House under Donald Trump's campaign against the small go-fast boats the administration claims are connected to cartels and gangs.
00:47The lawsuit was filed four days after the administration announced the 36-such boat attack on Friday, this one in the Eastern Pacific.
00:55The death toll of the boat strikes stands around at least 117 people dead so far.
01:01The lawsuit stated that the strikes were illegal.
01:04These premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification.
01:10It further stated,
01:13Thus, they were simply murder ordered at the highest levels of government and obeyed by military officers in the chain of command.
01:21Close quote.
01:22Legal scholars have said the strikes launched against civilians in boats from the U.S. are violations of domestic and international law.
01:30The Trump administration maintains they are legal under a secret opinion written by the Justice Department that argues the U.S. is in an armed conflict with cartels and that the laws of war apply to the strikes.
01:42The lawsuit over the October attack was filed in federal district court in Massachusetts under admiralty law, which addresses maritime disputes and violations, and was brought by Leonor Burnley, Chad's mother, and Salika Kora Singh, Samaru's sister.
01:58It cites the Alien Tots Act, which allows foreign nationals to sue in U.S. courts in certain cases, and a death on the high seas.
02:07Mark Basant, TV6 News.
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