On Monday, Police charged the Australian veteran for an alleged murder in Afghanistan three years after a war crime investigation uncovered that 19 Australian special forces soldiers could encounter charges for illegal conduct during the battle.
A 41-year-old veteran was arrested in New South Wales state and charged by police with the war offense of murder, an Australian Federal Police statement said.
It will be alleged he murdered an Afghan man while deployed to Afghanistan.”
the statement said.
He is expected to appear before a Sydney court within days when a magistrate will probably consider whether he can be released from custody on bail. The man was identified by Australian Broadcasting Corp. and News Corp as former Special Air Service Regiment trooper Oliver Schulz.
ABC broadcast a helmet camera video in 2020 of a soldier it said was Schulz shooting an Afghan man in 2012 in a wheat field in Uruzgan province. He meets a possible penalty of life in jail if sentenced. Police are working with the Office of the Special Investigator to make cases against elite SAS and Commando Regiments armies who performed in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.
A military report released in 2020 after a four-year investigation found evidence that Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers, and civilians. The report recommended 19 current and former soldiers face criminal investigation.
Benjamin Roberts-Smith who is Australia’s most highly decorated member of the armed services when he left the SAS in 2013, has been charged by ex-colleagues with the illegal treatment of captives, including illegal killings. The former corporal, who was rewarded the Victoria Cross and the Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan, has declined any mischief.
His year-long defamation trial against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times newspapers ended in July 2022 but a judge has yet to be announced. More than 39,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan during the 20 years until the 2021 withdrawal, and 41 have been killed there.
