Community service demanded against soldiers due to shooting accident in Afghanistan | Domestic

The incident happened on January 16, 2021 at Camp Marmal in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. The soldiers thought the weapons were loaded with blanks during the exercise, but real bullets came out.

One of the bullets hit the victim (now 28 years old) in his forearm. During the exercise he had the role of ‘practice enemy’. Due to the damage sustained, the arm was amputated in May 2022.

The Public Prosecution Service sees not only the shooter as responsible, but also soldiers who took and saw the ammunition. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the accident was preceded by a chain of criminally culpable errors.

The Public Prosecution Service is demanding seventy hours of community service against the shooter (26). A group commander (31) who took the live ammunition was sentenced to 140 hours of community service, and another group commander (32) was sentenced to 90 hours in prison. He saw the cartridge holders in a car, but took no action. That was against safety regulations.

The victim told the court that the accident had major physical and mental consequences for him. He finds it inexplicable that the shooter did not notice that he was shooting real ammunition.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, there was no intent. One of the suspects involved became emotional by the victim’s statement and tearfully apologized in court.

Defense has acknowledged liability for the accident. The amount of compensation has yet to be determined. The victim’s lawyer is also demanding damages from the suspects.

The military chamber expects to make a ruling on December 18.