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Viewing cable 07BERLIN92, GERMAN PROSECUTOR FOLLOWS UP: KURNAZ CASE

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07BERLIN92 2007-01-17 07:00 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Berlin
VZCZCXRO9591
OO RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHLZ
DE RUEHRL #0092/01 0170700
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 170700Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RHMFISS/CDRUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE IMMEDIATE
RHMFIUU/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE IMMEDIATE
RUEAWJC/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFE RAMSTEIN AB GE IMMEDIATE
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/HQ USEUCOM LO WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6686
RUEHRL/USDAO BERLIN GE IMMEDIATE
INFO RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL IMMEDIATE 0433
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 000092 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR L - ADEEKS AND JDOROSIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KLIG KJUS MARR MOPS GM
SUBJECT: GERMAN PROSECUTOR FOLLOWS UP: KURNAZ CASE 
ASSISTANCE REQUEST 
 
REF: BERLIN 61 AND PREVIOUS 
 
1. (U) This Cable contains an Action Request.  Please see 
para 4. 
 
2. (SBU) Further to reftel, the State Prosecutor's Office in 
Tuebingen has written the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, 
Stuttgart Law Center, asking for further information in 
connection with events Murat Kurnaz -- a Turkish citizen 
resident in Germany and returned here in August 2006 from 
Guantanamo -- alleges to have happened to him in a U.S.-run 
prison facility in Kandahar.  On January 11, Chief Public 
Prosecutor in the office of the State Prosecutor in Tuebingen 
Michael Pfohl followed up his earlier email and phone 
requests with a written request to the Office of the Staff 
Judge Advocate, Stuttgart Law Center, 21st Theater Support 
Command. 
 
3. (SBU) Begin Text of Informal USAREUR/Embassy translation. 
 
Tuebingen, 11 January 2007 
 
Dear Mrs. Harville-Hummel, 
 
As per our telephone conversation, I kindly request your 
assistance in a pending investigation case number 11 Js 
26900/06 against two soldiers assigned to the special forces 
(Kommando Spezialkraefte) stationed in Calw.  The following 
facts are essentially the basis of this investigation: 
 
Mr. Murat Kurnaz, Turkish national, born in 1982, raised in 
Bremen, was apprehended in 2002 in Pakistan and turned over 
to the U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.  He was determined to be 
an "enemy combatant" and transported to Guantanamo in the 
year 2002.  He was released in 2006 and returned to Germany 
on 24 August 2006. 
 
In the magazine "Stern", dated 05 October 2006, for the first 
time Mr. Kurnaz alleged that he had been mistreated by German 
soldiers in the beginning of the year 2002 while confined in 
a U.S. prisoner camp in Kandahar, Afghanistan.  During a 
later legal hearing with the public prosecutor, he made his 
allegation concrete and described that he was called out of 
his "compound" by two U.S. soldiers and that his hands were 
bound behind his back.  After that he was confronted by two 
German soldiers at a hidden part of the camp.  He alleges 
that while he was lying on the ground he was pulled up by his 
hair and his head was hit to the ground.  Furthermore, one of 
the two German soldiers kicked him in the side. 
 
In order to clarify the facts further, I kindly request the 
following information from the U.S. authorities: 
 
- Was it possible in the year 2002 to drive with a (small) 
truck into the prison camp in Kandahar and did they do so? 
 
- How were the feces (Note: from the camp End Note.) disposed 
off?  Did so called "sh-t burning" (that's what the German 
soldiers called it) take place or were the entire contents of 
the toilets disposed off by a latrine truck which would pass 
by the gate at the clay wall regularly and which would be 
parked at the edge of, but still within, the camp? (Reference 
is made to the attached photograph, especially the position 
marked with an asterisk) (Note: photo emailed to L/PM and 
EUR/AGS. End Note.) 
 
- Who would be able to make further statements, if possible 
based on their own observations, as to the above 
circumstances and who would be available to testify as a 
witness? 
 
The allegations raised by Mr. Kurnaz are subject of an 
Investigation Committee of the German Bundestag.  Mr. Kurnaz 
will testify to the Committee on 17 January 2007.  The 
situation has drawn great media attention throughout Germany. 
 Therefore, a quick response to the above questions would be 
 
BERLIN 00000092  002 OF 002 
 
 
greatly appreciated. 
 
Thank you for you assistance. 
Sincerely, 
Dr. Pfohl 
Senior Public Prosecutor 
 
End Text of Informal USAREUR/Embassy translation. 
 
4. (SBU) Post requests guidance in how to respond to the 
Prosecutor's questions. 
 
5. (U) This Cable was coordinated with USAREUR LNO. 
TIMKEN JR