Soldiers punished for abuse of civilians during Afghan conflict

A court martial in Germany yesterday sentenced both men, who at the time of their offences were attached to 1 Yorks in Lashkar Gah West, although neither were members of the regiment.

One, a 22-year-old former serviceman, was fined £1,000 after he admitted indecent conduct towards a child. The second, 23-year-old serving officer was reduced to the ranks for racially abusing an Afghan man. Their patrol commander was cleared of failing to deal with the offences.

At the hearing in Sennelager, Judge Advocate Alan Large granted all three men anonymity, ruling that naming them could endanger their lives in the wake of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. They were instead referred to as soldiers X, Y and Z for the duration of the hearing.

Soldier X, a former private who has since left the Army, admitted pulling an Afghan boy’s hand towards his crotch in December 2011.

Video footage played at the court martial showed him surrounded by his comrades and laughing as he repeatedly said to the child “touch my special place”.

He also admitted insulting another Afghan child between October 16 2011 and January 6 2012.

More footage, which the former soldier filmed himself, showed him being approached by the Afghan boy, smiling and offering to shake his hand. Soldier X was then heard swearing at the boy.

But Soldier X was cleared of disgraceful conduct of an indecent kind and of forcing an Afghan girl to touch him on a separate occasion.

Peter Glenser, for the defence, said the films were made in imitation of comic movie The Hangover, but admitted his client had an “immature sense of humour”.

Soldier Y, a serving lance-corporal, admitted posing in a photograph with a racially-offensive sign between 16 October 2011 and 6 January 2012.

Sentencing both men, the Judge Advocate said the offences had taken place during a “demanding operational situation with risk of attack from insurgents and a persistent IED threat”.

“Many soldiers develop their own strategies for dealing with the pressure of life on operations,” he told them. “One of those strategies is banter, which has been a historic feature of military life and particularly life on operations.

“The boundary between what is acceptable and what trespasses into unacceptable behaviour is sometimes unclear and difficult to distinguish. Having said that, all soldiers, particularly those serving in Afghanistan, are fully trained and fully prepared for all aspects of your duties.”

The Judge Advocate said he accepted arguments that there was no sexual motive behind Soldier X’s behaviour when he told the young boy to touch his private parts but added it was fortunate neither the child nor adults in the local population had been aware of what he did in December 2011.

The insulting language he had used towards the second Afghan child had “clearly caused offence” and had been “unacceptable”.

Addressing Soldier Y, he said his racist behaviour was “highly offensive and particularly stupid”.

“You have been trained to act with decorum and you singularly failed to do that.”

Speaking after the hearing, Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation said: “To be fined £1000 and demoted sends the message out that Afghan lives are worth less than Westerners.

“Not only were children abused with sexual references, there was a case of racism which has been admitted yet the tribunal gave a minor punishment. This is just not acceptable.”