WASHINGTON--The CEO of the company formerly known as Blackwater issued a statement praising a judge's decision to dismiss charges against five of his firm's security guards charged with fatally shooting 14 unarmed Iraqis.

"The company supports the judge's decision to dismiss the charges," said Joseph Yorio, chairman and CEO of the newly christened Xe Services, in a statement appearing in several US media.

"From the beginning, Xe has stood behind the hundreds of brave men who put themselves in harm's way to protect American diplomats working in Baghdad and other combat zones in Iraq," he said.

"Like the people they were protecting, our Xe professionals were working for a free, safe and democratic Iraq for the Iraqi people," read the statement released late Thursday.

Yorio's remarks came after a federal judge dismissed criminal charges against the security guards, who were accused of having gone on a shooting rampage in a heavily trafficked Baghdad intersection in September 2007.

Judge Ricardo Urbina, without ruling on the merits of the case, said prosecutors had violated the defendants' rights by using incriminating statements they had made under an immunity deal with the US State Department.

"The government used the defendants' compelled statements to guide its charging decisions, to formulate its theory of the case, to develop investigatory leads, and ultimately to obtain the indictment in the case," Urbina ruled.

Prosecutors engaged in "reckless violation of the defendants' constitutional rights," in building the case against the security workers, who were to have gone to trial in February.

Blackwater Worldwide changed its name to Xe (pronounced zee) in February 2009, following what the company said was a change of business focus.

Critics however suggested that the rebranding was an effort to polish an image tarnished by an alleged culture of lawlessness and lack of accountability among Blackwater workers as they carried out their duties in Iraq.