18 Soldiers Indicted in Hazing Case
DW World.
They have it tough enough as it is: Army recruits practice with
weapons
Eighteen German soldiers were indicted Monday in the wake of a
scandal surrounding the alleged abuse of´more than 160 military
recruits, using electrical shocks and beatings.
A captain at a barracks in the western town of Coesfeld and 17
non-commissioned officers are "believed to bear most of the guilt"
in the case, chief prosecutor Wolfgang Schweer said.
A soldier salutes
The prosecution of 20 other suspects will be conducted
separately.
The accused are believed to have mistreated 163 of their charges in
the German army, or Bundeswehr, during four exercises. They used
low-grade electrical shocks, punches and kicks. The case made
national headlines when it emerged last November.
Still reeling
Germany's armed forces are still smarting from the allegations. At
the time, it was alleged that several low-ranking officers
mistreated Bundeswehr recruits during basic training; the
perpetrators used methods that were said to be modeled on the US
military torture of prisoners in Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
Recruits on the march
But the issue turned out to be more widespread than anyone thought
at first, with additional incidences of hazing coming to light as a
result of follow-up investigations.
At the time, Bundeswehr spokesman Bernhard Gertz said troops in
Coesfeld had been tortured with electrical shocks, had their noses
held shut and water poured down their throats. He cited members of
the unit charged with the training the soldiers.
Link to Abu Ghraib?
"This incident is extremely upsetting because it soils the image of
the Bundeswehr," Gertz told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper in
November.
A hooded and wired Iraqi prisoner at the Abu Ghraib prison near
Baghdad
The first incident reportedly took place a year ago, in June, at
the same time that shocking pictures of torture of Iraqi prisoners
by US soldiers went around the world. Whether the soldiers
responsible for the mistreatment were inspired by the events at Abu
Ghraib is uncertain. However, they did allegedly use similar
methods, including hooding their victims, stripping them and
photographing them