More than a year after the end of the Bundeswehr’s mission in Afghanistan, the mission has legal repercussions. A soldier is said to have raped a colleague in the camp at the time. The judiciary in Kempten must now clarify the case.
Kempten (dpa / lby) – Because of the allegation of raping a colleague during the foreign mission in Afghanistan, a Bundeswehr soldier has to answer to the regional court in Kempten from Tuesday (9:00 a.m.). The crime is said to have taken place two years ago in Camp Marmal in Mazar-i-Sharif. The Kempten judiciary is responsible for such crimes throughout Germany.
The accused 36-year-old military policeman is said to have forced a Bundeswehr soldier to perform sexual acts with his weapon during the foreign deployment. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the soldiers had previously celebrated a carnival party on November 11, 2020.
The man has been charged with gun rape and intentional bodily harm and faces several years in prison. His defense attorney said she would not comment on the allegations for the time being. “For understandable reasons, there will be no statement from our side before the end of the process,” said lawyer Friederike Hein from Koblenz.
According to the investigators, the soldier endured the sexual acts of her colleague because she feared for her life due to the gun threat. She is said to have suffered significant mental suffering as a result of the act. The Bundeswehr ended its mission in Afghanistan in June 2021.
The judiciary in Kempten is responsible for the case because since 2013 it has generally been the place of jurisdiction for acts by Bundeswehr soldiers “on special assignments abroad”. The public prosecutor’s office there had previously been the main authority for such cases relating to Bavaria. The Bundestag then decided that Kempten should also have this competence for suspects from other federal states. According to a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Kempten, the rape charge is the first major case to be investigated in connection with this special responsibility.
