Australian ex-soldier charged with war crime in Afghanistan

A former member of the Australian military has been charged with a war crime over the killing of an Afghan civilian. The 41-year-old man was arrested in New South Wales and charged with murder following a joint investigation between the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) and the Australian Federal Police. If found guilty, the former soldier, who is the first serving or former member of the Australian military to face war crimes charges, faces a life sentence. The OSI was set up in the wake of 2020’s Brereton Report, which found there was “credible evidence” that some of Australia’s elite soldiers unlawfully killed 39 people while deployed in Afghanistan.