GATINEAU – A military captain did shoot an unarmed insurgent on an Afghan battlefield but is not guilty of murder, a military judicial panel has found.
In a dramatic verdict, Capt. Robert Semrau, who was accused of shooting and killing a badly wounded insurgent fighter in Afghanistan, was found not guilty of second-degree murder as well as not guilty of attempted murder.
However the four-member military panel did find Semrau, who had been facing two charges under the Criminal Code and two under the National Defence Act, guilty of a defence act charge of behaving in a disgraceful manner.
That charge relates to their finding that he did shoot an unarmed combatant.
The disgraceful conduct charge carries a sentence of up to five years in jail.
The dramatic verdict came Monday afternoon at the Gatineau hearing room where his court martial has played out in recent months.
The panel began their deliberations Saturday afternoon after hearing from military Judge Lt.-Col. Jean-Guy Perron that Semrau is to be presumed innocent, and that the prosecution bears the burden of proving his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The drama began on a dusty battlefield in southern Afghanistan on Oct. 19, 2008. Semrau was part of a team of Canadian Forces mentors to the Afghanistan National Army.
Following an intense firefight, one Taliban fighter was found on the verge of death. The trial has been told that Semrau fired two rounds from his rifle into the dying man.
The trial has heard evidence that Semrau told fellow officers after the shooting that he simply wanted to put a wounded and dying enemy fighter out of his misery.
Maj. Steve Turner, Semrau’s lead counsel, had argued in the court martial last week that the military has been unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the most crucial aspects of its case, namely that Semrau fired two shots into the gravely wounded insurgent to finish him off then admitted the deed to soldiers under his command, trusted colleagues and even an Afghan National Army officer at the scene.
Semrau never testified in the three months of hearings and his lawyers never called any witnesses, believing that the case against the Moose Jaw, Sask., native was fraught with flimsy evidence.
The prosecution, which also presented its closing arguments last week, said there are few things that can be proven with certainty, but there is a preponderance of evidence that proves Semrau was in the wrong.
That evidence includes his apologies, explanations and admission of the shooting to an Afghan army officer, soldiers under his command and a colleague back at CFB Petawawa after the murder charges were laid, the prosecution said.
While some may consider the alleged act of mercy, Canadian soldiers do not have the right to decide that an injured combatant should die,” said prosecutor Lt.-Col. Mario Leveillee.
“An unarmed combatant is no longer an enemy … This means that he should have treated this man just as he would have expected a Canadian soldier to be treated that day,” he said.
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