Posted by
InchDeep on Monday, May 12, 2008 6:31:53 PM
More from www.thelocal.se.
Lars-Olof Corneliusson, the former commander of a Swedish amphibious military
unit based near Stockholm, is accused of trying to cover up an incident
in which new conscripts fired shoulder mounted artillery cannons while
in the nude.
The leader of the exercise, which took place in 2004 and involved soldiers from the Amf 1 amphibious unit based in Vaxholm
outside of Stockholm, was told by Corneliusson to destroy a film of the
shooting, according to the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.
When the film was shown by Svergies Television’s investigative news
program Uppdrag Granskning in May of 2006, it generated a great deal of
controversy.
The film shows a group of conscripts from Amf 1 shooting a
shoulder-fired mortar wearing only helmets, and generated concern about
a lack of security within the unit.
But of the Corneliusson, who was in charge of the unit at the time, had had his way, the film never would have been made public.
According to DN, Corneliusson had requested that the leader of the
exercise destroy the film during a discussion between the two following
the incident.
He also failed to report the shooting as a workplace incident, according to the newspaper, which reviewed reports from the unit.
Commander Christer Olofsson, who conducted the military’s own
investigation into the naked artillery firing, was critical of the
unit’s leadership for not reacting immediately following the incident.
Corneliusson is currently under indictment for workplace crimes in
connection with a combat patrol boat accident near the island of
Sollenkroka in Stockholm’s archipelago in which two conscripts lost
their lives.
The boating accident took place about one week following the naked
shooting incident. A judgment in the case is expected to be handed down
on May 27th.