The first Australian service member or veteran in active duty to be charged with a war crime for murdering a civilian while fighting in Afghanistan is a former soldier.
According to a joint statement from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Office of the Special Investigation, the 41-year-old male was charged in New South Wales on Monday (OSI).
He will allegedly be accused of murdering an Afghan man while serving with the Australian Defense Force in Afghanistan, according to an AFP statement.
According to the statement, the charge carries a potential sentence of life in prison.
It noted that the individual was remanded in jail and would appear in court later.
His arrest follows a four-year investigation into alleged crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.
In 2020, the long-awaited report by the inspector general of the Australian Defense Force concluded that Australian elite forces allegedly killed 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners unlawfully.
The ADF recommended that 19 individuals from the Australian Special Forces be investigated over 36 alleged war crimes, including murder and cruel treatment of non-combatants in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2013.
The inquiry described an environment where “blood lust” and “competition killings” were reportedly a norm. It alleged that some patrol commanders required junior soldiers to shoot prisoners to achieve their first kill, in a process known as “blooding.”
The report presented what it said was “credible information” that weapons or handheld radios were then sometimes allegedly placed by a body to make it seem like the person had been killed in action.
None of the 39 alleged unlawful killings happened in the heat of battle, according to the report, and the Afghans who died were non-combatants or no longer combatants.
Monday’s AFP statement said it is continuing to work with the OSI “to investigate allegations of criminal offenses under Australian law related to breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict by Australian Defense Force personnel in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.”