Army: War Crimes

(asked on 8th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill on future prosecutions for war crimes committed by British soldiers.


Answered by
Johnny Mercer Portrait
Johnny Mercer
Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
This question was answered on 14th December 2020

As we do not know what future operations our Armed Forces may undertake, it is not possible to assess the impact of the Bill in relation to future prosecutions.

The measures in Part 1 of the Overseas Operations Bill will apply to alleged offences committed on overseas operations more than five years ago. The Bill will not prevent allegations of offences (including war crimes) by service personnel which occur on overseas operations from being investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted.

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