KABUL (CNN) :A former soldier has become the first serving Australian serviceman or veteran charged with the war crime of murder for allegedly killing a civilian while on deployment in Afghanistan.
The 41-year-old man was charged in New South Wales on Monday, according to a joint statement from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI).
“It will be alleged he murdered an Afghan man while deployed to Afghanistan with the Australian Defense Force,” the AFP statement said.
The maximum penalty for the charge is life imprisonment, the statement said. The man was remanded in custody and will face court at a later date, it added.
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.
