Midtown Blogger/Manhattan Valley Follies: Warsaw Voice- Afghan War Crimes Trial

The Warsaw Voice » Law » March 20, 2015

Four Polish soldiers cleared of Afghan war crime

March 20, 2015

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The Warsaw military court on Thursday cleared, in a retrial, four Polish army officers of war crimes over the killing of six civilians during the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, but found them guilty of negligence in following orders by launching mortar and machine-gun fire on the village of Nangar Khel in 2007.

"The court did not establish that the soldiers' actions were deliberate. The shooting of the village was not on purpose, neither was the killing of the civilians," the ruling read.

Three soldiers received suspended prison terms of up to two years. The fourth soldier was found guilty of the lesser charge but received no sentence.

Poland's Supreme Court had ordered the retrial of the four soldiers who had been charged with and later aquitted by a Warsaw court of committing a war crime in Nangar Khel, in 2007, while upholding the “not guilty” verdict given to three others.

On Aug. 16, 2007, six people were killed when the village of Nangar Khel, in Afghanistan’s southeastern Paktika Province, was subjected to mortar and heavy machine gun fire. Another two people died later in hospital. Women and children were among the victims. Seriously wounded Afghan civilians were brought to Poland for treatment and compensation was paid to the families of those killed.

The incident occurred after two International Security Assistance Force vehicles were damaged by roadside bombs near the village. A group of Polish commandos arrived on the scene a few hours later to look for the Taliban fighters responsible for the attack. The Polish soldiers, who claimed that the Taliban had set up positions around the village, fired a high-caliber machine gun and a 60 mm mortar. At least four mortar shells fell on a civilian building.

Seven soldiers from Poland’s 18th Airborne Assault Battalion were charged. The prosecution alleged that the killing of eight civilians by firing on an undefended building that had no military significance constituted a war crime and requested prison terms of between five and 12 years.

On June 1, 2011 the Warsaw court, however, decided that there was insufficient evidence to support a war crime conviction. The court also held that there was no evidence that the soldiers had received an order to shell the village.

But military prosecutors appealed the decision saying the original acquittal was made without a complete assessment of the evidence and demanded a full re-trial of the soldiers.

The Supreme Court later decided that only four of them would face the charges again due to some substantial questions raised during the trial.