Kandahar massacre

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Location of Kandahar Province in Afghanistan

The Kandahar massacre took place on Sunday, March 11, 2012 at around 3:00 a.m. local time in the village of Najib Yan (according to other reports in the two villages of Balandi and Alkozai) in Panjwai district in Kandahar province in Afghanistan . United States Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales went from the camp, a combat outpost called Camp Belambay, wearing a night vision device, and shot and stabbed 16 civilians, including 9 children and 3 women , during a rampage in three houses. He then cremated some of the victims.

Bales, who was in Afghanistan for the first time since December 2011 after three missions in Iraq , is a member of a Stryker Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division and is stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Fort Lewis . His unit and the Green Berets on site commissioned a village stabilization operation . This included, among other things, maintaining contact with the local population, supporting the training and presence of the Afghan National Police , and tracking down Taliban leaders . The region used to be a Taliban stronghold, but the situation had calmed down in recent years.

According to the American military, Bales had drunk alcohol on the night of the crime together with two other soldiers, contrary to the existing ban. During his missions in Iraq, he probably lost part of his foot to a mine and was treated for a traumatic brain injury . Bales' attorney and the military do not rule out Bale's PTSD . Also, some media raised the question whether taking mefloquine , a drug may be used by the US Army for malaria - prophylaxis , affect Bales mental state was at the material time; a complete release of his medical files has so far been refused by the responsible authorities. Despite protests from the Afghan government, Bales was taken out of the country soon after the rampage and detained at Fort Leavenworth . An initially planned relocation to US military bases in Kuwait failed due to protests from the regime there.

On March 13, a delegation appointed by Hamid Karzai to investigate the site of the massacre was attacked by insurgents. Among the delegates were two brothers of Karzai and the Minister for Tribal Affairs and Special Envoy for Southern Afghanistan, Asadullah Chalid .

Robert Bales

Robert Bales at the National Training Center (August 2011)

Robert Bales was 38 years old at the time of the crime, married and had a daughter and a son. He was denied promotion to Sergeant First Class in 2011. The perpetrator, who was incarcerated in Fort Leavenworth Military Prison in Kansas, was brought to trial for 17 murders, multiple attempted murders and serious assault . According to the US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta , he could have been sentenced to death in the following trial.

A first hearing took place on November 5, 2012. According to the indictment, he was charged with 16 homicide, six attempted murder, assault, and drug and alcohol abuse while on duty.

At the end of May 2013, Bales' attorney announced that his client would confess in a deal. In return, the public prosecutor's office promised to suspend the death penalty . On June 5, 2013, Bales made a full confession in military court. Judge Nance accepted the guilty plea. On August 23, 2013, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. It was expressly excluded that Bales' sentence could be suspended after 20 years.

Multi-perpetrator version

According to eyewitness reports, which include the New York Times, and according to an investigation team of Afghan members of parliament who inspected the crime scene for two days and questioned survivors, Bales did not act alone, but reports of up to 20 soldiers who broke the massacre in two Divided into groups. They are said to have been assisted by helicopters and fired with flare ammunition. However, a surveillance video recorded from a balloon when Bales was missing at Camp Belambay shows him returning to the camp alone from the crime, which has also been confirmed by an Afghan official.

Documentation " Silent Night "

In 2013, the director Lela Ahmadzai published a web documentary entitled “ Silent Night ”, which focuses on interviews with relatives.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b America puzzles over the gunman from Najib Yan. In: Spiegel Online. March 17, 2012, accessed March 17, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Dirk Hautkapp: US soldiers in Afghanistan - death and hatred in the Hindu Kush . In: DerWesten. WAZ media group , March 12, 2012, accessed on May 1, 2012 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Robert Bales. In: New York Times website . March 29, 2012, accessed May 1, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Mark Benjamin: Robert Bales Charged: Military Scrambles To Limit Malaria Drug Just After Afghanistan Massacre. In: Huffington Post. March 25, 2012, accessed March 27, 2012 .
  5. ↑ Amy Goodman, Mark Benjamin: Pentagon Stays Silent on Whether Suspect in Afghan Massacre Took Controversial Anti-Malaria Drug. In: Democracy Now. March 27, 2012, accessed March 27, 2012 .
  6. ↑ rme: Mefloquine: Warning of neuropsychiatric side effects and blackwater fever. Deutsches Ärzteblatt, September 11, 2013
  7. ^ Adam Ashton: Army: Robert Bales' medical records to remain classified. The News Tribune, September 3, 2014.
  8. ^ Karzai delegation under fire. In: the daily newspaper . March 13, 2012, accessed March 14, 2012 .
  9. ↑ How it happened: Massacre in Kandahar. In: BBC News . March 17, 2012, accessed March 17, 2012 .
  10. ↑ Gunman Bales is charged with 17 murders , Spiegel Online from March 23, 2012
  11. ↑ US soldier in Afghanistan appears in court for the first time
  12. ↑ US soldier admits murder of 16 Afghans
  13. ↑ American soldier confesses to massacre
  14. ^ Massacre in Afghanistan: US soldier Bales sentenced to life imprisonment
  15. ↑ Taimoor Shah and Graham Bowley: US Sergeant Is Said to Kill 16 Civilians in Afghanistan. In: New York Times Online. March 11, 2012, accessed March 21, 2012 .
  16. ↑ Bashir Ahmad Naadim: Up to 20 US troops executed Panjwai massacre: probe. In: Pajhwok Afghan News . March 15, 2012, accessed March 21, 2012 .
  17. ↑ Graham Bowley and Taimoor Shah: After Massacre, Aerial Recording Caught US Soldier's Return. In: New York Times website. March 14, 2012, accessed March 21, 2012 .
  18. ↑ Victim: "We want to see him hanging"