Ex-SAS soldier faces war crimes trial over Afghan killing helmet-cam footage exposes 2012 shooting

Former Australian special forces soldier Oliver Schulz has been ordered to stand trial in the country’s first-ever war crimes prosecution, more than a decade after helmet-camera footage captured him shooting dead an Afghan villager.

Magistrate Greg Grogin committed Schulz, 43, to face the NSW Supreme Court in October, criticising the years of delay in bringing the case forward, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

Schulz, dressed in a three-piece suit, appeared stern as he left Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court.

The former SAS trooper was charged in 2023 with the war crime of murder after the ABC’s Four Corners program aired footage in 2020 showing him firing three rounds at Dad Mohammad, a man in his 20s and father of two young daughters, during a 2012 mission in Uruzgan Province.

In the video, filmed from another soldier’s helmet camera, an SAS dog is seen attacking Mohammad in a wheat field before being called off.

Schulz then points his weapon at the prone villager, asking repeatedly: “You want me to drop this c**?”* Moments later, he opens fire.

Australian Defence Force investigators initially cleared Schulz, concluding Mohammad was lawfully killed because he was carrying a radio and “tactically manoeuvring.”

But the ABC’s investigation — which tracked down the victim’s family and revealed inconsistencies in the official account — triggered a three-year probe that ended with charges.

By Aghakazim Guliyev