GATINEAU, Que. - A Canadian officer accused of executing a severely wounded insurgent was on patrol mentoring Afghan soldiers who had no medic and no understanding of the laws of war, his court martial heard Thursday.

Capt. Robert Semrau, 36, has pleaded not guilty to four charges, including second degree murder, stemming from the October 2008 battlefield incident in Helmand Province.

The case, thought to be the first of its kind in Canada, is casting a spotlight on the training and conduct of the military in Canada's most deadly military conflict since the Korean War.

Over two days of testimony, the first witness called by military prosecutors described the preparation and mandate of Canada's Operation Mentor Liaison Teams (OMLT) of which Semrau was a part.

"The OMLT's a strange beast, it's new," Col. Joseph Shipley, the commander of the mentoring program in Afghanistan, told the court.

The mandate was evolving, he explained, and senior commanders "tried desperately to put together the best training plan we could."

Under cross-examination Thursday, Shipley noted that the military only had about 40 per cent of the training staff needed to complete the OMLT program, so some training scenarios had to be scaled back.

He also testified that the "TCCC" advanced first-aid training course required for all OMLT members was shortened to seven days from 10 days.

The OMLT is a "leadership figure" for the Afghan National Army (ANA) to follow but cannot issue orders, said Shipley, and its overseers had envisioned mentoring teams that would be assisting Afghan commanders who already had some training.

"When we got on the ground, we found that was not the case," he told Lt.-Col. Jean-Marie Dugas, one of Semrau's defence lawyers.

Shipley told the court that medical training among Afghan soldiers was "non-existent" and that even Afghan company medics were "at best ... basic first-aiders."

As for training in the laws of war or the Geneva Conventions, Shipley said ANA knowledge was "nil."

The court martial has heard Semrau was one of four OMLT members travelling on a 16-km patrol with the ANA when a series of ambushes led them to call in an air strike. Two insurgents were found afterward, one dead and the other severely injured, and the ANA captain refused to call in medical assistance.

The prosecution says it has witnesses who will testify Semrau fired two rounds into the chest of the disarmed wounded man at close range.

No body was ever recovered.