Members of the armed forces of other states can be tried in Germany, the Federal Criminal Court ruled yesterday, Thursday, in a milestone decision.

Officers of the armed forces of other states, or the secret services of foreign states, have no immunity in such cases, the Federal Criminal Court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) has ruled.

This verdict “explicitly confirms the ongoing practice of the federal prosecutor’s office to bring foreign officials to justice in Germany for the most serious international crimes,” said Chief Prosecutor Christoph Barthe.

The verdict concerns the case of an Afghan lieutenant who is accused of beating three captured Taliban fighters during interrogation, threatening to torture them, and hanging the body of an Islamist insurgent in public.

In 2019, a Munich court sentenced the officer to two years in prison for violence.

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