DEFENCE MEDIA RELEASE
Issued by Ministerial Support and Public Affairs, Department of Defence, Canberra, ACT
Phone: 02 6127 1999, Fax: 02 6265 1545
MSPA 309/10
Thursday, 22 July 2010
12 February 2009 incident in Afghanistan - update
On 12 February 2009 the Special Operations Task Group deployed to Afghanistan as
part of Operation SLIPPER undertook a compound clearance operation in Uruzgan
Province.
The operation was the subject of an investigation by the Australian Defence Force
Investigative Service, which was subsequently referred to the Director of Military
Prosecutions for consideration.
The Director of Military Prosecutions is the independent prosecutorial authority for
the Australian Defence Force.
The Director of Military Prosecutions is a statutory appointment, designed to operate
outside the Chain of Command in order to remove any suggestion of bias or command
influence from the prosecution process.
On Monday 19 July, the Director of Military Prosecutions invited the Chain of
Command to make representations regarding the interests of the Australian Defence
Force in accordance with section 5A of the Defence Force Discipline Act 1982.
This process allows the Chain of Command to represent matters to be considered by
the Director of Military Prosecutions that relate to the maintenance and enforcement
of Service discipline.
It must be stressed that the Director of Military Prosecutions is continuing her
consideration of this matter and has not yet made a final decision regarding potential
disciplinary action.
Defence will announce the outcome of the Director of Military Prosecutions’
consideration of the matter when finalised.
Media contacts:
Defence Media Liaison:
02 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664
NEWS 
