An ex-special forces soldier will have to stay tight-lipped about his upcoming war crimes trial when he attends the funeral of a fellow SAS veteran.
Oliver Jordan Schulz successfully applied to have his bail conditions varied in the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday to attend the funeral of a fellow Afghanistan veteran in Sydney.
The former Special Air Services soldier has pleaded not guilty to the war crime of murder over the death of Afghan farmer Dad Mohammad in 2012.
His bail prohibits him from making any contact with people who may be prosecution witnesses, including some who served with him in Afghanistan, but the condition will be removed for one day to allow Schulz to pay his respects to a fellow serviceman.
A memorial service for Warrant Officer Lachlan Muddle, who died during a parachute exercise on May 11, will be held at Holsworthy Barracks on Friday.
WO Muddle collided with another soldier a few hundred feet above the ground while wearing night-vision goggles and suffered fatal injuries during the high-altitude training exercise for the Australian Defence Force's parachute school.
While Schulz has been allowed to attend the funeral, he will not be allowed to discuss any developments in his case with other attendees.
"For the duration of Mr Schulz's presence at the funeral, the applicant is not to discuss ... any aspect of the current prosecution against him," Justice Peter Hamill ordered on Wednesday.
Schulz was the first serving or former ADF member to face a war crime charge of murder under domestic law.
Footage from a helmet camera, first aired publicly by the ABC Four Corners program in March 2020, appears to show Schulz and his squad approach a 25- or 26-year-old man in a wheat field in Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province.
Schulz then seems to fire three shots at Mr Mohammad, who was on his back with his hands and knees raised.
Justice Hamill heard that prosecutors, defence lawyers and legal representatives of the federal government had been conducting tours of various Sydney courthouses to determine which might be suitable for Schulz's complex trial.
Complicating the matter is the need for two separate courtrooms to be available simultaneously, so evidence that is suppressed on national security grounds can be heard in a completely closed court.
Prosecutor Sean Flood SC was cautioned by the judge for asking for a Federal Court courtroom for the trial without consulting the chief justice of NSW.
"Any approach to our colleagues ... the preference is that you go through the chief justice," Justice Hamill said.
"The consequences of not doing so might not be what you're after."
Schulz's matter will return to court for two weeks of pre-trial hearing on August 10.
He is set to face a trial in February.
Fellow SAS veteran Ben Roberts-Smith became the second soldier to be charged with war crimes in April.
He faces multiple charges of the war crime of murder relating to incidents that allegedly occurred while on deployment in Afghanistan.
