First Aussie soldier arrested for war crimes.
By Brian Hartigan – Contact
A former SAS trooper has been arrested by Australian Federal Police near Goulburn, NSW, in relation to alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan.
A joint investigation between the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) and the AFP has today resulted in the arrest of a New South Wales man.
It is expected he will be charged with one count of War Crime—Murder under subsection 268.70(1) Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).
Investigators arrested the man, 41, in regional NSW this morning and he is expected to appear in a NSW Local Court later today, Monday 20 March 2023.
It will be alleged he murdered an Afghan man while deployed to Afghanistan with the Australian Defence Force.
The maximum penalty for a War Crime—Murder offence is life imprisonment.
OSI and AFP are working together to investigate allegations of criminal offences under Australian law related to breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict by Australian Defence Force personnel in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.
A joint statement from OSI and AFP said that as the matter will be before the court and the investigation is ongoing, no further comment will be made.
However, while the ABC has already identified a soldier by name and photograph as being the man arrested, CONTACT will refrain from naming him until the details are officially confirmed.
That said, the ABC says he is the soldier shown in an ABC 4 Corners episode allegedly shooting an unarmed man in a wheat field.
If it is the man identified by the ABC, they say he was awarded a Commendation for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan.
The OSI was established in 2021 as one element of the Australian government’s response to the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force’s Afghanistan Inquiry report – AKA, the Brereton report.
Screw the Brereton report !
why don’t the ABC leave the SAS alone. They previously sent a afghani woman over to Afghanistan to investigate the SAS and that is like letting the cat look after the pigeons. No wonder it is hard to get anyone to join the forces these days.
the people investigating so called War Crimes live in perfect worlds that have rules and regulations and of course that world does not exist. The deployments that our service people have been sent on since the 1960’s have had one side, { the Aust and allies] FIGHTING with rules of engagements and idiots with more concern for our enemies than the welfare of our own people, whilst the other side fights with every dirty trick in a book that is never written. You never know who your enemy is, nervs are on high, we should suport our soldiers not condemn them
State police are now guardians of the politicians while attacking the citizens they are supposed to protect, while federal police are now destroying any chance of enlisting fighters for the looming war. I hate armchair politicians and their cronies (cops) who have never even seen a scary movie but can second guess the circumstances of a war event from thousands of kms away and from the safety of their parliament or police HQs, which the very people they are prosecuting, have made safe for the mongrel politicians and cops to operate from. I personally don’t care what our SASR, or Commandos, have done, if anything, they have laid their lives on the line for the safety of this nation, we should all be grateful to them.
As an ex serviceman who served for quite a number of years, I have seen the effects of war on veterans as a defence advocate filing for claims to DVA, and the mental anguish they suffer from our community of the free living who are quick to judge but have never served. A large number of veterans have committed suicide, and even more who have considered it due to lack of support and ridicule from society. I agree with the comments made about those who sit in comfortable officers and have no comprehension of what these soldiers have been through. Every soldier is a trained killing machine who may have to be called on to carry out such orders. If we as soldiers didn’t carry out our duty, we would be in a mess.