Former SAS soldier from Australia is held for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan

Australian army vehicles in Afghanistan

From 2001 to 2021, Australian forces were in Afghanistan

Following an investigation into alleged war crime in Afghanistan, an ex-SAS soldier from Australia has been taken into custody and will be tried for murder.

The 41-year old man was taken into custody Monday in New South Wales (NSW).

According to the Australian Federal Police, he will be charged with “war crime – murder” and will appear in court on Monday.

You can be sentenced to life imprisonment for the offence.

Authorities have yet to officially identify the arrested man. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), claims he is Soldier C, a reference to him in an ABC Four Corners 2020 documentary that exposed alleged war crimes.

Footage from 2012 showed Soldier C shooting a man from Afghanistan in a wheatfield in Uruzgan Province (southern Afghanistan) in 2012.

The investigation was conducted by the Office of the Special Investigator, which was established to investigate war crimes allegations following a four year inquiry by Paul Brereton (Army Reserve major general, NSW Supreme Court judge)

Brereton Report, published in 2020, found that there was “credible evidence” that 39 Afghan civilians were killed by elite Australian soldiers during the war in Afghanistan.

Police should investigate 19 ex-special forces soldiers or current members of the force for killings of prisoners, farmers, or civilians between 2009 and 2013.

It is believed that this was the first arrest in connection with the inquiry.

The Australian Defence Force blamed the crime on an unchecked, “warrior culture”, among some soldiers at the time.

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