The service responsible for this survey examined more than 1,200 complaints. Although 178 charges were selected and discussed in the context of 55 separate investigations, finally no soldier was continued.
Le Monde with AFP
The independent investigation of the 1,291 complaints against British soldiers accused of committing war crimes in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 was closed without giving rise to prosecution, the British Defense Minister announced. , Ben Wallace, Tuesday, October 19th. The service responsible for this independent investigation now has “officially closed its doors,” the minister said in a written statement to Parliament.
One hundred and seventy-eight charges had been selected and examined in the framework of 55 separate investigations and five persons had been referred to the 2019 Prosecution Service, but finally no soldier was continued, said . Wallace. In some cases, investigations conducted by the military police “under difficult conditions, on the battlefield,” did not obtain all the required evidence so that opportunities to request accountable accounts have Maybe lost, “he added.
The British army participated in the invasion of Iraq conducted in 2003 by a coalition led by the United States and then maintained troops in the country.
Four convictions
More than 400 Iraqi prisoners had contacted the European Center for Constitutional and Human Constitutional Rights (ECCHR) in Berlin, and the public law firm Interest Lawyers, SIS in Birmingham (England), for denounce “serious abuses and humiliations by British soldiers”, ranging from rape and torture to performing simulacra and other atrocities.
“The vast majority of the more than 140,000 members of our armed forces who served in Iraq honorably,” said Wallace, but “it is unfortunately clear that shocking and shameful incidents occurred “.
Evoking “Four convictions of British military personnel” before the work of the Independent Commission, the minister claimed that the government “lamented and condemned all these incidents”, presenting “unqualified apologies to all those who suffered a unacceptable treatment on the part of the British forces “.
In 2012, the British Ministry of Defense had reported 15.1 million pounds (nearly € 18 million in the current price) to more than 200 Iraqis accusing British military of illegal detention and torture.