Canadian Army Captain Cleared of Murder Charge

A controversial military trial in which a young Canadian officer was charged with murdering a mortally wounded Taliban fighter has reached a verdict.

Captain Robert Semrau was found not guilty of second-degree murder and attempted murder by a jury of fellow officers at the conclusion of a historic military court martial in Gatineau, Que. He showed no emotion as the verdict was read out Monday.

He was, however, found guilty of disgraceful conduct, a lesser charge that carries a penalty of up to five years and could even result in discharge from the Canadian Forces. The 36-year-old father of two has yet to be sentenced.

Capt. Semrau is believed to be the first Canadian soldier to be prosecuted for an alleged battlefield killing – for a shooting that occurred in 2008 in the Afghan province of Helmand. The court martial heard that he fired a double tap of bullets into a critically wounded insurgent whom one witness testified was “98 per cent dead” already.

Lieutenant-Colonel Mario Leveillee, a member of the prosecution team, said he believes the jury’s verdict reflects what could be proven in the court martial.

“They’ve found him guilty of shooting an unarmed, wounded person,” he said. “One element that had to be proved to find murder in the second degree was that the individual died as a result. They may have had a reasonable doubt about this.”

Prosecutors faced an uphill battle in establishing a murder case, even after some of Capt. Semrau’s fellow soldiers testified the officer had privately admitted to shooting the insurgent at close range. There was no body, no autopsy report and witnesses gave conflicting testimony.

Still, Bill Semrau, the captain’s brother, said the soldier and his supporters are disappointed that he was convicted of disgraceful conduct.

“We have always believed my brother did nothing wrong and put our faith in the military justice system,” he said. He urged people to join a Facebook.com group, Support the Freedom of Captain Robert Semrau, which on Monday counted close to 8,400 members.

The prosecution had alleged the army captain committed a mercy killing because he felt bound by a “soldier’s pact” to end the suffering of gravely wounded combatants. There is no defence for mercy killing in the law.

Retired Canadian Major-General Lewis MacKenzie comments on the case and verdict in this article.

"I think the occasions are so rare you can count them on one finger,” said Lewis MacKenzie, a 35-year veteran of the Canadian Forces who headed up the UN mission in Sarajevo during the Balkans War. “It's not something that anybody would even think about ahead of time. It's just a situation develops and then it happens. I would suggest in the nine years we've been in Afghanistan, this is probably the only one."

But MacKenzie said complicated battlefield context makes them all extremely difficult to judge - especially in a peaceful Canadian court - and they are best left unreported.

"Some people will interpret that as being cavalier. It's not,” MacKenzie said. “People have to understand the battlefield. Shit happens.

“There was a judgment call that was made at the time that, in my estimation, was appropriate, and it's taken three years to clean it up and come to a conclusion."

By: Shelldrake