Australian police have arrested a former Australian Special Air Service (SAS) soldier who participated in the Afghanistan war 11 years ago on charges of war crimes.
According to Australian ABC News and others on the 20th (local time), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) announced that they arrested former soldier Oliver Schulz (41) in New South Wales (NSW) in the morning, stating, "He is accused of killing an Afghan civilian male while deployed to Afghanistan with the Australian Defence Force."
ABC reported that Schulz is the perpetrator who shot and killed a local man named Mohammad in Uruzgan Province, southern Afghanistan, in May 2012 during an airstrike conducted by Afghan forces, and that Schulz is accused of shooting Mohammad while he was lying on the ground without resistance.
After his deployment to Afghanistan, Schulz was recognized for his service and received a gallantry medal, but he had to leave the military after a killing scene involving him was revealed in ABC's investigative program in March 2020.
This arrest is the first to occur following revelations that Australian special forces deployed to Afghanistan killed civilians and prisoners.
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