OTTAWA — Capt. Robert Semrau will have to wait another two weeks to find out whether he’ll face prison time for shooting a wounded and unarmed Taliban insurgent on the battlefield.

Semrau was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday morning but the presiding military judge, Lt.-Col. Jean-Guy Perron, pushed the date back to Tuesday, Sept. 21 due to medical reasons.

Military brass had urged Perron to kick Semrau out of the Army for “unacceptable” conduct during a sentencing hearing in July.

"It's such a blow to the credibility of the institution that I don't think we have any option but to release him from service,” said Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, the chief of staff, land operations, who represented the chain of command.

Prosecutors suggested Semrau be made an example of: dismissed with disgrace from the Canadian Forces and sent to jail for two years less a day.

But Semrau’s lawyer, Maj. Steve Turner, suggested his client was too good a soldier to be dismissed and urged the judge to severely reprimand him and demote him a rank or two to lieutenant or second lieutenant.

Semrau, 36, was cleared of second-degree murder, attempted murder and negligence to perform his military duty after a four-month trial this spring.

But a four-member military panel found him guilty of disgraceful conduct for shooting a disarmed and wounded Afghan insurgent in October 2008. That National Defence Act charge carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

althia.raj@sunmedia.ca