CANBERRA, Australia — A senator has invited the International Criminal Court to investigate what AustraliaMilitary commanders knew of the allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan in an attempt to pressure Australia to start its own review.
Senator Jacqui Lambie, an influential independent lawmaker, sent an Article 15 Communication to the Hague-based court on Tuesday arguing that military commanders have not been held accountable for their soldiers’ alleged war crimes.
“The government certainly hopes all of this will go away. They hope Australians forget that when suspected war crimes in Afghanistan were investigated, our senior commanders got a free pass, while our Diggers were thrown under the bus,” Lambie told the Senate. “Digger” is a colloquialism for Australian soldier.
“There is a culture of cover-up at the highest levels of the Australian Defense Force. It’s the best boys’ club,” added Lambie, a former army corporal.
The ICC has an obligation to prosecute war crimes committed by signatories to the Rome Statute, including Australia, when that state is “unwilling or unable” to prosecute, according to the Australian government.
Australia has so far avoided involvement with the ICC by launching its own war crimes investigation under the leadership of Major General Paul Brereton, a judge and army reservist.
Brereton’s report, published in 2020 after a four-year investigation, found evidence that Australian troops illegally killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and civilians. The report recommended that 19 current and former elite soldiers face criminal investigation.
The first criminal charge was filed in March for an alleged illegal murder in Afghanistan. Former Special Air Service Regiment soldier Oliver Schulz, 41, has been charged with the war crime of murder in the 2012 death of an Afghan man who was shot in a wheat field in Uruzgan province.
Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated member of the armed forces when he left the SAS in 2013, is also under police investigation.
The 44-year-old former corporal, who was awarded the Victoria Cross and the Medal of Bravery for his service in Afghanistan, lost a libel case on June 1 when the Federal Court found war crimes allegations against him published in newspapers. , including four unlawful killings. , they were true.
Lambie’s lawyer, Glenn Kolomeitz, said there was room for an ICC investigation because Brereton had not investigated the role of commanding officers in the alleged war crimes.
The ICC could find that commanding officers “knew or should have known” of illegal conduct, Kolomeitz said.
Kolomeitz hoped that the ICC’s involvement would prompt Australia to extend its own war crimes investigation to the commanders.
“The onus will then fall on the Australian government to seriously consider why Australia has not investigated the command responsibility aspects of the Afghanistan allegations and what we are going to do about it,” Kolomeitz told reporters.
He said the Australian officers tried in The Hague was an unlikely outcome unless the government continued its inaction and the ICC deemed it necessary.
“Our intention is to get us, Australia, to properly investigate … allegations of crime,” he added.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said whether the ICC launched its own investigation was a question for the ICC.
“Ultimately, that is an ICC matter. What I can tell you is what the Australian government is doing. We take this very seriously. We will seek to implement the Brereton report to the fullest extent possible,” Marles told reporters.
Brereton made several recommendations on command responsibility in his report. Defense Force chief Angus Campbell also made recommendations about officer liability, which found their way to Marles’ desk.
Marles said he was seeking advice before implementing those recommendations.
“The allegations that are at the center of this are very serious and very serious, but through the recommendations of the Brereton report, our government will make sure that we get it right,” Marles said.
More than 39,000 Australian servicemen served in Afghanistan in the 20 years until the 2021 withdrawal, with 41 dying there.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.