VIENNA: An Austrian court on Thursday acquitted the founder of the Blackwater private security firm and four others, finding no evidence they modified and exported two planes for military use, one of their lawyers said.
Erik Prince and four other men went on trial in November at a regional court outside of Vienna, accused of modifying two aircrafts “for combat use” and flying them to Bulgaria and South Sudan.
The 5 defendants — charged with violating the War Materials Act — were all acquitted, lawyer Oliver Felfernig said, adding the judge found the two planes had not been modified for combat use, according to AFP.
Prince, a former Navy SEAL, drew infamy as the chief of Blackwater, whose contractors were accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007.
Four who were convicted were pardoned by then US president Donald Trump in 2020.
Prosecutors can appeal Thursday’s ruling. If found guilty, the defendants would have faced up to 3 years in jail.
Prince — the brother of the former US education secretary Betsy DeVos — worked with company Airborne Technologies, based in Wiener Neustadt, near Vienna, which modified the agricultural aircrafts.
Prosecutors said they fortified the cockpit and installed a special camera and hard points where weapons could be attached, among other changes.
The defence refuted the aircrafts were adapted for military use, saying they did not qualify as war material.
One of the two aircrafts was exported in 2014 and flown to South Sudan. The second was sent in 2015 to EU member Bulgaria.
Aircrafts exported from Austria
On trial together with Prince, 54, was an Australian pilot, who flew the aircrafts out of Austria, as well as two Airborne Technologies executives and another pilot who allegedly acted as a consultant.
