21-05-2025
Czech president pardons soldiers prosecuted in death of Afghan prisoner
Czech President Petr Pavel, arrives for a meeting with international investors in IA at the Elysee Palace as part of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit in Paris, France, February 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
PRAGUE - Czech President Petr Pavel granted pardons on Wednesday to four members of the country's special forces, who had been facing prosecution for alleged crimes related to the death of a detained Afghan soldier.
The four members of the 601st special operations forces group were to stand trial on charges of extortion, insubordination, violation of guard duty obligations and failure to provide aid.
Czech media had reported that the accusations related to the death of 19-year-old Wahidullah Khan after he was detained over an attack on troops at the Shindand base in western Afghanistan in 2018.
One Czech soldier was killed in the attack and two others were injured.
"After carefully assessing all the circumstances of this case, the President of the Republic took into account in particular the exceptional nature of the war situation in which the incident under investigation occurred," Pavel's office said.
It added that the fact the soldiers were not primarily accused of violent crimes had also been taken into consideration.
The New York Times first reported the incident in 2018. It reported that Khan was beaten after being taken into custody by U.S. and Czech troops, was unconscious when he was returned to Afghan forces the same day and died shortly afterwards.
U.S. and Czech troops were being investigated over the incident, it reported at the time.
The Czech army operated in Afghanistan from 2002 until 2021. REUTERS
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