A pre-trial directions hearing will get under way in Sydney on Monday for two Australian soldiers involved in an operation which left six Afghan civilians dead.
The soldiers face a court martial later this year over the role they played in night-time raid on a residential compound in Oruzgan province on February 12, 2009.
The 2009 operation, which targeted an insurgent leader, left six Afghan civilians dead.
Some of those killed were children. Other civilians were injured in the incident.
Monday's pre-trial hearing will help determine how the court martial proceeds, including how much of it may be heard in public, a defence spokesman said.
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The two soldiers' commanding officer at the time of the operation also faces disciplinary procedures but is not involved in Monday's hearing.
