Czech president pardons soldiers over Afghan detainee's death

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PRAGUE - The Czech president has pardoned four soldiers charged over the death of a detained Afghan soldier following interrogation in 2018, his office said on Wednesday.

Identified by the media as Wahidullah Khan, the Afghan soldier killed a Czech dog handler and wounded another two Czech soldiers at the Shindand air base in western Afghanistan in October 2018.

He gave himself up at once, was questioned by Czech, US and Afghan soldiers, and died in the hospital shortly afterwards.

In 2021, the Czech military police charged four soldiers with blackmail, disobedience, negligence and breach of duty. Earlier this year, a Czech court said they would stand trial.

But Czech President Petr Pavel decided to pardon the soldiers, who faced up to life in prison if convicted.

The former NATO general "took into account the extraordinary character of the wartime situation... and the fact that the soldiers are not primarily charged with violent crimes", his office said in a statement.

"He also considered the complicated international context of the case and the length of the investigation, lasting almost seven years," it said.

Czech media have cited a 2019 report by the US Army Criminal Investigation Command saying Khan had been brutally beaten during the interrogation.

The Respekt weekly quoted an Afghan interpreter as saying Khan was heard crying in pain during the Czech interrogation and that he was beaten by the US soldiers too.

The New York Times reported in 2018 that the US Army would also investigate the US soldiers interrogating Khan over his death.

It also said Khan had no connection to the radical Islamic Taliban movement.

Czech soldiers were deployed in Afghanistan within the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission.

They returned home in 2021 when NATO withdrew its troops from Afghanistan as the Taliban seized power over the country.