Afghanistan MSF Staff's Murder: Main Suspect Released on Bail

MSF is also concerned about what this would mean for civilians today in Afghanistan if people were murdered and the crime were to remain unpunished.

After more than two years since five staff members of Médecins Sans Frontières were murdered in Afghanistan, those responsible have still not been found and the prime suspect has just been released, before completion of the judicial process.

The prime suspect of the murder had already been acquitted last January due to lack of evidence. He remained, however, in custody pending a prosecution appeal. It then transpired that his file had been lost. Now we learn that he has been released because detained for the maximum time allowed by law.

"Today with this release we are left with no answer," says Geoff Prescott, Director General of MSF Holland. "We have no further insight into the motives behind the killings and we do not understand why nothing seems to have happened in the judicial process since January, resulting in the release of the main suspect. We feel the need to express our frustration and the fear that we will never know what has really happened and why."

MSF is also concerned about what this would mean for civilians today in Afghanistan if people were murdered and the crime were to remain unpunished.

This last episode is just another shadow on what is already a very painful and unfinished story for the organisation as much as for the families of the victims.