Posted on 11/26/2004 5:36:14 PM PST by Trippin
Berlin - A scandal in Germany surrounding the alleged abuse of army recruits by their officers widened on Friday when the government revealed it had been informed of at least one other case.
A total of 20 non-commissioned officers and a captain are already under investigation by prosecutors in the western city of Muenster, accused of mistreating 80 of their charges at a barracks in Coesfeld, at least half of whom were doing national service.
But the army's representative in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Willfried Penner, has been informed of more accusations of mistreatment, his spokesperson Guido Large told a weekly press conference.
"We are looking into this," Large said, but declined to give further details.
Administered electric shocks
Die Welt newspaper reported on Friday that the new case concerned a barracks in North Rhine-Westphalia and that the events resembled those in the case being investigated in Coesfeld.
One of the soldiers in that case told the top-selling Bild newspaper that instructors had tied up recruits, covered their heads and administered electric shocks.
There was a code word that recruits could use to end the exercise, but only one of the young soldiers used it, the soldier told Bild.
One non-commissioned officer in the Coesfeld case has admitted mistreating the recruits with electric shocks and "deeply regrets" his actions, his lawyer said this week.
The president of the Federation of German Soldiers (DBWV), Bernhard Gertz, said the revelations of mistreatment were a good reason to maintain compulsory military service, which has been the subject of a major debate in Germany recently.
"Someone doing military service is more likely to complain (about mistreatment) than a professional soldier," Gertz told the online newspaper, Netzeitung.
(Excerpt) Read more at news24.com ...
A culture must hold on to its cherished traditions... ;)
Whenever this kind of thing happens outside the US, I'm shocked! I thought only Americans can commit such crime against humanity... Who would have thought that the-ever-efficient-and-punctual Germans, who opposed the Iraq war, could do such things?
At least they didn't put panties on their head. THAT would have been humiliating!
All this and they couldn't help us out with Abu Ghraib?
The Germans have always been the definitive "nth" when it comes to hinky behaviour.
I read this article in the German paper and kept waiting and waiting until presto..it finally appeared. Of course this won't make the MSM news, and if it does it will be short lived. The Europeans can get away with anything and the rest of the world ignores it. But let us have one incident and their are major headlines all over for weeks on end.
You must remember "We are the Ugly Americans/Israelis and they are the Cultured Europeans"...
Pink panties?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.