Army should no longer ‘police itself’, say campaigners
'Armed forces police have closed all investigations into alleged war crimes by British forces personnel in Iraq...bringing no prosecutions despite investigating 1,291 cases.'
Peace campaigners have redoubled their calls for the British army to be no longer able to ‘police itself’. The calls follow news this month that armed forces police have closed all investigations into alleged war crimes by British forces personnel in Iraq.
Defence secretary Ben Wallace said that the Service Police Legacy Investigations (SPLI) has ‘officially closed its doors’, bringing no prosecutions despite investigating 1,291 cases.
The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) said this was not the only time ‘the armed forces’ ability to police themselves has come under the spotlight’. It was revealed this month that ‘one in every 29 young women aged 16 or 17 in the military has reported being raped or sexually assaulted – but the forces are allowed to deal with such reports through their own police and court system’.
Campaigners also called for army leaders ‘to be held to account’ after a soldier was killed on an army training exercise on Salisbury Plain.
Twenty-three-year-old Jethro Watson-Pickering, from the village of Boosbeck, North Yorkshire, was killed when he was ‘part of a crew operating an armoured vehicle’, a spokesperson from Wiltshire police said.
Local press said that the man sustained significant injuries after a tank rolled over during a training exercise. The incident is now the subject of a joint investigation between Wiltshire police, the army and the Health and Safety Executive.
There have been 150 deaths of UK armed forces members in military exercises from January 2000 to August 2021, according to MoD statistics.
