An Australian former special forces soldier is set to become the first in the country’s history to stand trial for a war crime, more than a decade after the alleged killing of an unarmed Afghan farmer.
Oliver Schulz, 43, who served with the elite SAS, is accused of murdering 25-year-old father-of-two Dad Mohammad in May 2012 during a mission in Uruzgan province, southern Afghanistan. Schulz allegedly shot the farmer three times at close range after a dog handler’s patrol flushed him from a wheat field. He has denied the charge.
The Times UK reports that the case, long delayed in lower courts, was committed to trial this week by Sydney magistrate Greg Grogin, who expressed frustration at how long the process had taken. The Supreme Court trial is due to begin in October. If convicted, Schulz faces life imprisonment.
The case follows the release in 2020 of graphic helmet-camera footage by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which showed the moments leading up to the shooting. The broadcast sparked widespread public outrage and triggered a three-year federal investigation. Former prime minister Scott Morrison at the time described the footage as “shocking.”
Under the Commonwealth Criminal Code, the killing of a non-combatant — or someone incapacitated by injury — can constitute a war crime. Prosecutors will need to prove Schulz knew, or was reckless about, the victim’s non-combatant status.
The footage, which is expected to play a central role in the trial, shows Schulz asking fellow soldiers three times whether he should “drop this c***” before firing on Mohammad, who was lying on his back with a stunted leg.
Schulz, a decorated soldier with multiple Afghan tours, was commended for gallantry during his service. However, he was stood down from the Australian Defence Force after the ABC broadcast. An earlier military inquiry into the same incident had cleared him of wrongdoing, claiming Mohammad was attempting to evade capture when killed.
The police probe was later taken over by the Office of the Special Investigator, established in the wake of the Brereton inquiry, which in 2020 recommended that 23 incidents and 19 soldiers be referred for criminal investigation over alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
Until now, Schulz’s case has been overshadowed by that of Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living soldier. Roberts-Smith lost a high-profile defamation case last year after a federal judge ruled it was proven he had unlawfully killed unarmed Afghans.
Schulz was the first Australian soldier ever charged with a war crime. Despite the gravity of the allegations, he has remained on bail due to concerns he could be targeted by Taliban sympathisers in prison.
His trial is set to mark a pivotal moment for accountability in Australia’s military history, with extended footage of the alleged killing and testimony from fellow SAS soldiers expected to dominate proceedings.
