Pakistan: American official 'guilty' in shootings

Pakistan police report deems American official 'guilty' in shootings

By Karin Brulliard and Aoun Sahi
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, February 13, 2011; 12:18 PM

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A Pakistani police report says an American Embassy official jailed in the killing of two Pakistani men is "guilty" of murder, citing investigators' findings that the official shot each victim five times, including in their backs, and lied to police about how he arrived at the scene of the incident.

The five-page report, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post, spells out law enforcement authorities' case against the official, Raymond Davis, which the police chief in the city of Lahore referred to two days ago as a "cold-blooded" killing. Davis, a former Army Special Forces soldier, has said he fired in self-defense as the men tried to rob him.

The report, however, says that while the men were armed, no witnesses saw them point weapons at Davis. The top American official in Lahore, Carmela Conroy, disputed that Friday, faulting police for not considering what she said were eyewitness accounts of the stick-up, which were aired on Pakistani television in the day following the shooting.

Two weeks after the incident, the police report serves as an official record of how deeply Pakistani officials are digging in their heels over the case, which has frayed the uneasy U.S. -Pakistan alliance. U.S. officials have repeatedly said Davis qualifies for diplomatic immunity and demanded his release, while Pakistan has said the matter is up to its courts.

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ENDS

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