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Belgium: Court convicts soldiers

01 July 1997

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A Belgian court sentenced two soldiers to a month in jail after they admitted roasting a Somali boy over a fire. The light sentences have caused an outcry amongst Somalis in the UK and abroad.

There have been persistent allegations made against Belgian soldiers involving torture and over-heavy policing in both Rwanda and now Somalia. Fifteen soldiers from the parachute regiment were investigated in 1995 following allegations made against them. However Belgium is not the only country whose soldiers are alleged to have behaved in an inhuman fashion. Canadian paratroopers are also alleged to have tortured three Somalis to death, while Italian magazines have published photos of Italian soldiers raping and torturing a young Somali girl.

Questions are now being asked about the leniency of the sentences. Prosecutors appear to have only asked for a month's sentence as opposed to the year's maximum that was available to them. Ironically the Belgian soldiers, together with their Canadian and Italian counterparts, were in Somalia as part of the UN operation "Restore Hope".

Voice 30.6.97

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