PRAGUE (Reuters) – 4 Czech troopers will face trial for alleged crimes referring to the loss of life of an Afghan soldier after he was detained and interrogated in 2018, Czech prosecutors mentioned on Tuesday.
The Czech state lawyer’s workplace mentioned in an announcement that 4 members of the 601st particular operations forces group would stand trial on expenses together with extortion, insubordination, violation of guard obligation obligations and failure to supply help.
It didn’t establish the 4, who may face life sentences if convicted.
The Czech defence ministry declined to remark.
A lawyer representing three of the defendants mentioned they’d strongly disagreed with the accusations from the beginning of the investigation.
“In response to them, the act they had been accused of didn’t occur and the prosecutor didn’t submit any usable proof for the costs,” lawyer Radek Ondrus, who didn’t establish his purchasers, mentioned in an emailed response to questions.
Czech public radio reported on its web site that the accusations relate to the loss of life of 19-year-old Wahidullah Khan after he was detained by Afghan forces over an assault on troops on the Shindand base in western Afghanistan in 2018 through which one Czech soldier was killed and two injured.
The New York Instances first reported the incident in 2018. It mentioned Khan had been crushed after being taken into custody by U.S. and Czech troops, was unconscious when he was returned to Afghan troops the identical day and died shortly afterwards. It mentioned U.S. and Czech troops had been being investigated over the incident.
The Czech military operated in Afghanistan from 2002 till 2021. Its troops had been deployed there as a part of the U.N.-mandated Worldwide Safety Help Power (ISAF) set as much as help the Afghan authorities in securing the nation and coaching Afghan Nationwide Safety Forces.
Czech troops had been additionally a part of the NATO-led Resolute Help Mission established after ISAF was disbanded.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka, Enhancing by Timothy Heritage and Bernadette Baum)
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