Semrau trial told Taliban fighter '98% dead'
Last Updated: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 | 10:57 AM ET
The Canadian Press
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A veteran Afghan army officer has testified that a Taliban fighter was "already 98 per cent dead" when he was allegedly shot and killed by Canadian Capt. Robert Semrau.
Capt. Shafigullah told a four-member Canadian court martial Tuesday in Kandahar that he couldn't say for sure when the fighter actually died.
Semrau, 36, is facing a second-degree murder charge in the shooting death of an unarmed Taliban prisoner in Afghanistan in October 2008.
Shafigullah said he didn't know whether the insurgent was dead before or after the two shots were allegedly fired by Semrau, who was working as a mentor for the Afghan National Army.
Shafigullah said the fighter had been shot by a helicopter gunship and that he had lost both legs and his intestines were exposed.
The man's body had been prepared for his impending death, with a shawl placed over him and his head facing Mecca.
Shafigullah told the court martial at Kandahar Airfield that his soldiers prevented Afghan border police from strangling the Taliban fighter.
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