[jambutty]

We are going to have to agree to disagree on this one WillowTheWhisp but any soldier carrying out legitimate orders should not be charged with murder. The officer issuing the orders – maybe, if it can be shown that the orders were unlawful.

As for the NI incident, wasn’t the car full of teenagers and all they did wrong was drive through a checkpoint instead of stopping. It was assumed by the army patrol that they were terrorists because they drove through the checkpoint so they opened fire. Thus they killed without just cause and were, quite rightly, court martialled for doing so.

The East German soldiers were under orders to open fire on all escapees.

Any members of any of the WWI firing squads were under orders from an officer on the instruction of a court martial. However it was argued that some of these courts martial were not legally convened or conducted within the KG & AI of the day. But I do not recall any such firing squad member being charged with murder.

Some officers took it upon themselves to shoot a soldier for refusing to obey orders in a time of war. But few if any were charged with murder, although they should have been. At the time the Kings Regulations and Army Instructions did not give an officer the authority to shoot and kill a soldier for disobeying orders. Only to arrest them and return them to head quarters for a court martial.