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53 German Y.B. Int'l L. 833 (2010)
The 2009 Kunduz Air Attack: The Decision of the Federal Prosecutor-General on the Dismissal of Criminal Proceedings against Members of the German Armed Forces

handle is hein.journals/gyil53 and id is 834 raw text is: The 2009 Kunduz Air Attack: The Decision of the Federal Prosecutor-General on the Dismissal of Criminal Proceedings Against Members of the German Armed Forces WOLFF HEINTSCHEL VON HEINEGG* AND PETER DREIST* I. Introduction The present contribution examines the decision of the Prosecutor-General of the Federal Republic of Germany (Generalbundesanwalt) on the dismissal of criminal proceedings against members of the German armed forces (Bundeswehr) deployed to Afghanistan who were involved in an air attack on 4 September 2009 against two tank trucks and against Taliban fighters who had captured the trucks on the day before. This investigation is the first investigation in the history of the Federal Repub- lic of Germany which involved the application of international criminal law in a con- flict situation. The Federal Prosecutor-General's decision was delivered on 16 April 2010, more than half a year after the incident. At that time it was classified because it contained sensitive information about the military operations in Afghanistan, com- mand and control structures, military capabilities and, last but not least, human sources of secret intelligence. However, in view of increasing allegations against the German officers of having committed war crimes, the German authorities decided to publish an unclassified version of the decision that is only available in German.1 The * Professor of Public Law, Public International Law, European Law and Foreign Constitutional Law at the Europa University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. .. Branch Chief, Branch Legal Advisor and Public Prosecutor for Disciplinary Offenses to the Chief of Staff, German Air Force, German Ministry of Defense, Bonn; LEGAD COM RC North, Mazar-e- Sharif, Afghanistan, 22 October 2008 to 7 February 2009. ' Federal Prosecutor-General (Generalbundesanwalt), 3 BJs 6/10-4 of 16 April, 2010 (hereinafter Prosecutor-General's Report). This version is available on the Federal Prosecutor-General's website: http://www.generalbundesanwalt.de/de/aktuell.php (accessed on 18 November 2010). The link to this unclassified version is not easy to find: see link: aktuell, further link 19.04.2010 - 8/2010 - Ermitt-

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