From rxpgnews.com
Seven German soldiers to be tried over Afghan skull pictures
By DPA,
Dec 16, 2006 - 5:18:04 AM
Berlin, Dec 15 - The German army is to bring seven of its soldiers before a disciplinary tribunal over allegations that they played mocking and obscene games with skulls found on an Afghan roadside, the defence ministry in Berlin said Friday.
Photographs taken with camera-phones of the acts in 2003 and 2004 were published in October in German newspapers, prompting a public outcry. The bones are thought to be those of Soviet soldiers killed in earlier wars in Afghanistan.
The overall commander of the German armed forces, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, is to press for better ethical training of officers and soldiers, he told a daily newspaper, Die Welt, in an interview to appear in its Saturday edition.
Another newspaper, Bild, said the personnel could be demoted or have part of their pay docked if they were found guilty of offences against military discipline. The men allegedly toyed with the skulls and placed them near their genitals.
German public prosecutors investigating some of the soldiers closed the file, saying it is only a crime under German law to dishonour the dead if the bodies are in a cemetery. The skulls were next to a road through an area near Kabul used as a clay quarry.
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