OTTAWA - A military court has released a grainy video shot on an Afghanistan battlefield moments before a Canadian soldier is alleged to have killed a wounded insurgent.
The blurry images were caught by a cellphone and show the severely injured man lying in the dust.
The military judge who OK'd release of the video ordered that the faces in the footage be blurred out and the audio track deleted to protect the identities of Afghan soldiers and interpreters.
The video is an exhibit in the unprecedented trial of Capt. Robert Semrau, who is charged with a battlefield execution.
The 10-minute video, shot by a soldier in the Afghan National Army, shows a bearded, motionless man covered up to his chest in a light blue blanket.
When an Afghan soldier partially pulls back the blanket, one of the victim's legs is seen to be all but severed above the ankle, although no other wounds are visible.
The video shows no signs of life from the alleged victim, nor do they show any efforts at medical care.
Although witnesses have testified that Afghan soldiers kicked sand on the victim, this isn't seen in the video.
Semrau is a 36-year-old father of two from Petawawa, Ont., who served with the British army before joining the Canadian Forces.
Witnesses have testified the victim had been seriously wounded during a firefight with Afghan soldiers mentored by Canadians.
It is not clear if he was still alive when Semrau fired. The man was never identified, the body was not recovered and no cause of death has been established.
