Former SAS trooper Oliver Schulz arrested over alleged war crimes in Afghanistan

Police launch the nation’s first war crimes prosecution for an alleged battlefield murder, charging Oliver Schulz over the death of a man in Afghanistan.

Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz who has been charged with a war crime.

Police have launched the nation’s first war crimes prosecution for an alleged battlefield murder, charging a former SAS soldier over the death of a man in Afghanistan more than a decade ago.

Oliver Schulz, 41, was ­arrested in regional NSW and charged on Monday in what is expected to be the first of a number of war crimes cases from the Afghanistan war to be brought in coming months.

It follows a probe by the Office of the Special Investigator, which was set up to examine alleged war crimes identified by NSW Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton in his bombshell 2020 ­report for the Inspector-General of the Australian ­Defence Force.

Mr Schulz was charged under the federal criminal code with one count of “war crime – murder”. “It will be alleged he murdered an Afghan man while deployed to Afghanistan with the Australian Defence Force,” the Australian Federal Police said.

“This is the first war crime charge of murder to be laid against a serving or former Australian ­Defence Force member under Australian law.”

The maximum penalty for the charge, if it is proven, is life in ­prison. The alleged 2012 crime was the subject of reporting by the ABC’s Four Corners program.

Mr Schulz was arrested at Jindabyne in the NSW Snowy Mountains and remanded in custody to ­appear at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on May 16.

Defence and legal sources said it was expected more arrests would follow as the OSI finalised cases against other SAS veterans.

“The 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,” the AFP said.

Justice Brereton found “credible information” that up to 25 serving and former soldiers murdered 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners in a “disgraceful and a profound betrayal of the Australian Defence Force’s professional standards and expectations”.

A still from ABC’s Four Corners showing a shooting in Afghanistan

The charge comes ahead of a looming decision in the defamation case brought by Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith against Nine newspapers, which alleged the decorated soldier committed war crimes. Mr Roberts-Smith has vehemently denied the allegations.

Like the Roberts-Smith matter, the Schulz case will be closely watched by special forces veterans and their former commanders, and is likely to set precedents that will affect future prosecutions.

Some senior officers fear those accused of war crimes will defend themselves by pointing to chain-of-command deficiencies, such as policies that allowed special forces soldiers to repeatedly redeploy to Afghanistan despite concerns over their mental health.

“Individuals who were commanding the soldier, right up the chain of command for as high as the defence team can justify, should reasonably expect to get called into court,” one source said. “That will be an uncomfortable place for commanders who find themselves in that position.”

Another source said the OSI, which was established by the Morrison government shortly after the Brereton inquiry was ­released, had taken far too long to lay charges.

SAS Association chairman Martin Hamilton-Smith said the move to charge the SAS veteran was welcome, “so that the truth can be established in a properly constituted court, in accordance with due process”. “An allegation or a charge is not a conviction. The defendant has a right to put his version of events and to explain the nature and complexities of the fighting in Afghanistan,” he said. “The presumption of innocence should apply to Oliver Schultz and anyone else who may be charged.”

The Australian Centre for International Justice said it welcomed the news that the OSI’s ­investigations had progressed.

“Victims of human rights violations across the conflict in ­Afghanistan have for decades been denied avenues for any ­accountability,” the centre’s director of legal advocacy, Fiona Nelson, said. “Criminal proceedings in Australia have an important role to play in finally allowing for ­impunity to be challenged.”