A former SAS member has been detained and charged with the war crime of murder after being suspected of murdering an Afghan civilian on a mission in southern Afghanistan more than ten years ago. Australian federal police and NSW police detained Oliver Schulz, 41, in New South Wales' southern highlands. He was remanded in detention and is scheduled to show up at Downing Center Local Court in Sydney in May. The maximum punishment for a war crime-murder offence is life in prison, according to a statement from the Australian Federal Police: "It will be alleged he murdered an Afghan man while deployed to Afghanistan with the Australian defence force."

An Australian soldier, apparently Schulz, is shown in footage from the ABC's Four Corners documentary shooting and killing an Afghan guy who was laying on his back in a wheat field in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan while holding his hands up. In Rotation XVII of 2012, Schulz was a soldier with the SAS's 3 Squadron. The arrest of Schulz marks the first time in Australian legal history that a serving or former member of the Australian Defense Force has been charged with murder in a war crime. Schulz was detained as a result of a four-year inquiry by Maj Gen Paul Brereton, the inspector general of the Australian Defense Force, which found "credible" proof to back up claims that 39 Afghan civilians were unjustly slain by Australian special forces personnel.

The Office of the Special Investigator was especially established by government to investigate the Brereton report’s findings for criminal investigation. The AFP said: “The Office of the Special Investigator and the AFP are working together to investigate allegations of criminal offences under Australian law related to breaches of the laws of armed conflict by Australian defence force personnel in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.” Last month, before parliament, the head of the OSI said the agency was investigating “between 40 and 50” alleged offences by Australian special forces soldiers in the Afghan conflict.