Former commander of an Afghan prison has been arrested for war crimes
On Tuesday, the police arrested a 73-year-old man in Kerkrade (the Netherlands) who was allegedly a commander as well as the head of the Department of Political Affairs of the Pul-e-Charki prison in Kabul (Afghanistan) in the eighties.
At the time, war crimes were extensively committed in this prison by wrongfully imprisoning people and treating them inhumanly. Prisoners were kicked, beaten, tortured and executed.
In recent years, investigators of the International Crime Team have examined dozens of witnesses in various countries. These witnesses made statements on the prison’s very inhuman regime and the suspect’s involvement in it.
The man came to the Netherlands in 2001 and was probably registered under a false name. Later, he also obtained Dutch nationality.
An investigating judge with the District Court in The Hague (the Netherlands) remanded the suspect in custody for two weeks on Friday.