Kill team murders in Afghanistan

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The kill team's murders in Afghanistan were a crime of several members of 3rd Platoon , Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Brigade (5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team ), 2nd Infantry Division of Forward Operating Base Ramrod , a military base of the United States Army in Maiwand in Kandahar Province . These were accused of being arbitrarily Afghan between January and May 2010Killing civilians with guns and grenades when these people did not pose any threat to them. The case attracted international attention. The head of the conspiracy was Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs , who was sentenced to life imprisonment .

accusations

Andrew Holmes poses with the bare body of Gul Mudin (face pixelated) shortly after his murder on January 15, 2010

The soldiers are said to have formed so-called " kill teams " for the purpose of murdering innocent Afghans. Fingers and teeth are said to have been removed from the victims as trophies. In addition, in March 2011 photos with two of the defendants were published in the magazine Der Spiegel , in which they pose with corpses. The " kill teams " are said to have placed weapons on the killed Afghans in order to simulate an attack.

Processes

In September 2010, four soldiers faced a military tribunal for the murder of three Afghan civilians in May 2010. Seven others were also charged with cover-up and drug abuse. The trial began on September 27, 2010 at USAG Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) near Tacoma . All of those accused of murder pleaded innocent. 14 out of 18 witnesses refused to testify because they had incriminated themselves.

On March 24, 2011, Jeremy N. Morlock confessed to the murder of Afghan civilians and was sentenced to 24 years in prison by the military tribunal. As the main witness and by testifying against his comrades, he did not have to serve a life sentence.

In early August 2011, Adam Winfield was sentenced to three years in prison for the murder of at least one Afghan civilian. This was preceded by an agreement between the prosecutor and Winfield, in which he agreed to testify against Calvin Gibbs.

On October 31, 2011, Calvin Gibbs' trial began in a military tribunal. The prosecution charged him with murder and incitement to murder on three counts. At the opening of the trial, the defense admitted that Gibbs had removed the finger of the three dead. But he has nothing to do with two of the murders. With the third he acted according to his own statements in self-defense .

On November 10, 2011, Gibbs was found guilty on all 15 counts. He was sentenced to life in prison with the option of early release after ten years.

Victim

So far known victims are

  • Gul Mudin, 15-year-old farmer's son, killed on January 15, 2010 in the village of La`l Moḩammad Kalay (د, لعل محمد كلی)
  • Marach Agha, killed on February 22, 2010
  • Mullah Allah Dad, killed on May 2, 2010

Cultural reception

American director Dan Krauss made the documentary The Kill Team , which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival . Years later he adapted his documentary for the feature film of the same name , which was released in theaters in 2019.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dietmar Ostermann: "Kill this guy". In: Frankfurter Rundschau . September 28, 2010, archived from the original ; Retrieved November 11, 2011 .
  2. ↑ Lifelong for US soldiers for the murder of Afghans. In: ORF . November 11, 2011, accessed November 11, 2011 .
  3. ^ Lifelong for US soldiers for murder of civilians. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. November 11, 2011, accessed November 11, 2011 .
  4. ↑ Damir Fras: A barracks with many problems. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. March 13, 2012, accessed March 13, 2012 .
  5. ↑ US soldiers are said to have killed civilians indiscriminately. November 1, 2011, accessed November 2, 2011 .
  6. ^ Gene Johnson: US soldier gets life sentence in Afghan killings . In: news.yahoo.com. Associated Press, September 28, 2010, accessed November 12, 2011 .
  7. ↑ Felix Emeric Tota: Hollywood couldn't have thought it up , Frankfurter Allgemeine, December 17, 2014
  8. ↑ Monica Castillo: 'The Kill Team' Film Review: Nat Wolff's Soldier Has a Crisis of Conscience in Afghanistan . The Wrap, May 1, 2019