AUSTRALIA: Oliver Schulz, 41, is the first Australian military member or veteran to be prosecuted with a war crime under Australian law, is a decorated former SAS soldier who was seen shooting an Afghan guy in a wheat field in a Four Corners programme. He was also honoured for his bravery while serving in Afghanistan with the Commendation for Gallantry.
Oliver Schulz, a former soldier, was taken into custody this morning by the Australian Federal Police in Jindabyne, in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales. This happened after a long investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
According to the Commonwealth Criminal Code, Schulz has been charged with the war crime of murder and is scheduled to appear in Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court at a later time. His accusations are related to the shooting murder of an Afghan civilian named Dad Mohammad in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan during an ADF operation in May 2012.
The ABC’s Four Corners programme, which aired footage of Schulz shooting Mohammad as the Afghan man lay on the ground, broke the news of that killing in March 2020.
According to a statement from the Australian Federal Police (AFP), he will be accused of murdering an Afghan man while serving with the Australian Defense Force in Afghanistan (ADF). Schulz was detained as a result of a four-year inquiry by Maj Gen Paul Brereton, the inspector general of the Australian Defense Force, which found “credible” proof to back up claims that 39 Afghan civilians were unjustly slain by Australian special forces soldiers. Schulz might spend his entire life in prison if proven guilty.
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