European court rejects complaint against Germany over deadly air strike in Afghanistan

Lawyer for victims calls for formal apology over 2009 fuel tanker bombing

Dozens of people, including children, were killed in the air strike on tankers hijacked by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan. AP

Germany thoroughly investigated a deadly 2009 bombing that was ordered by one of its commanders in Afghanistan, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday.

Dozens of people were killed when US Air Force jets bombed tankers hijacked by the Taliban near the northern city of Kunduz.

The strike was ordered by the commander of the German base in Kunduz, Col Georg Klein, who feared insurgents could use the vehicles to carry out attacks.

Contrary to the intelligence on which Col Klein based his decision, most of the people who swarmed around the trucks were Afghan civilians invited by the Taliban to siphon fuel.

Abdul Hanan, who lost two sons aged 8 and 12 in the air strike, took the case to the court after German authorities refused to prosecute Col Klein.

Mr Hanan alleged that Germany failed to conduct an effective investigation.

The Strasbourg court rejected the complaint and found that German federal prosecutors were “able to rely on a considerable amount of material concerning the circumstances and the impact of the air strike”.

The court said a parliamentary commission of inquiry “ensured a high level of public scrutiny of the case”.

Wolfgang Kaleck, who leads the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights and provided legal support to Mr Hanan, said the verdict was disappointing.

“The bombardment and the dozens of civilian deaths didn’t result in a rebuke," Mr Kaleck said. "There’s no resumption of the criminal case.

“On the other hand, it will be very important internationally, also in future, that the European Convention on Human Rights applies.

“Those who conduct such military operations have to legally answer for them afterwards, hopefully to a greater extent than in the Kunduz case.”

Germany paid $5,000 in compensation to the families of the victims and a legal attempt to increase those payments was rejected last year by the Federal Constitutional Court.

Mr Kaleck said he hoped the German government, which initially described the villagers, including children, as Taliban members and denied them access to legal files for months, would issue a formal apology.

Col Klein has since been promoted to the rank of brigadier general.