The Netherlands’ AFMP military union is calling for all army self-defence training sessions to be independently monitored.
The move follows the death last month of a 20-year-old sergeant shortly after he took part in a self-defence session. Internal injuries sustained during the exercises were the cause of death. The incident is under investigation by the military police.
The AFMP wants an independent monitor to be present at future self-defence sessions and to intervene if the instructor is too rough with the soldiers being trained.
The union points out that the trainee soldiers are at the receiving end of numerous blows and that injuries such as bruises and bloody noses occur regularly during the sessions. It says the violence has left soldiers unfit for work in a number of cases.
The defence ministry is declining to comment until the investigation in the sergeant’s death has been completed.
(mw)
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