Charges dropped against former German special forces commander
A criminal case against a former commanding officer of Germany's elite KSK special forces over thousands of rounds of missing ammunition has been dropped in exchange for an €8,000 ($8,600) charitable donation.
Brigadier General Markus Kreitmayr had stood accused of failing to cooperate in criminal proceedings under German military law, because of his decision to let soldiers anonymously return potentially stolen ammunition to the special forces base.
About €28,000 worth of ammunition was found missing during a 2019 inventory at the KSK's base in the town of Calw, located near Stuttgart in south-western Germany.
Public prosecutors alleged that Kreitmayr's decision to appeal to his troops to anonymously return the ammunition made it impossible for police to properly investigate potential criminal thefts from the KSK's stocks.
The court overseeing the case, however, had urged prosecutors to drop the charges in exchange for Kreitmayr making the donation to a charitable cause.
Kreitmayr initially resisted the proposal, with his attorney arguing that it would leave his reputation tainted, but agreed after the presiding judge, Armin Ernst, assured him that he would have no criminal record.
He would have faced up to three years in prison if convicted of the charge.
Following the general's appeal, soldiers returned more ammunition than was missing.
Before the trial, Kreitmayr acknowledged that his decision was in a disciplinary gray area, but said his priority was ensuring that the ammunition was secured and kept from falling into the wrong hands.
The KSK is an elite unit of Germany's army, the Bundeswehr, who have regularly been deployed to conflicts abroad and also train for missions such as rescuing hostages.
Kreitmayr served as commander of the KSK from June 2018 to August 2021.
