In August, 30 first-time guards were dismissed for using drugs. Several of them felt they had been unfairly treated, and the process also received external criticism. Afterwards, around half of the guards received legal help to appeal the Defense’s decision. Now they want their decisions reversed. They want to complete the initial service because they believe that so many mistakes were made in the handling of the case that the graduation is invalid. – I mostly react to the fact that we were tricked into confessing. We were lied to with a fake hair test, says one of the ex-guards to news. He wishes to remain anonymous, but news knows his identity. Like nearly half of the guards who were dismissed, he is represented by Inger Zadig at Elden Advokatfirma. The guards’ complaint was sent on 7 September. Only a day after news first contacted the Norwegian Defense Forces for a comment on this case, Zadig was told that it had been received. For two weeks, the complaint must therefore have remained unprocessed. – This only underpins my clients’ experience of the Defense Force’s lax handling of the case, and a total lack of proper case management, says Zadig to news. Garden has refused to be interviewed in this case, nor answered questions they have been sent by e-mail. Their answers can be read further down in the case. In the complaint, several shortcomings are highlighted in the Norwegian Armed Forces’ handling of the case: Zadig believes that the Norwegian Armed Forces were not allowed to take hair tests of the guardsmen either under the Criminal Code or the Defense Act. There was no “reasonable reason” to suspect the entire company of drug use, and thus to test for it, the complaint claims. They also believe that according to the Defense Act, the Armed Forces are not allowed to test for drug use long back in time, but only to check that a soldier is not intoxicated or has recently been. They believe the ex-guards were pressured to confess to illegal drug use, and thus to incriminate themselves. In the complaint, it is claimed that because the Armed Forces acted in a way the guardsmen and their lawyer were in violation of the law, the admissions of the guardsmen must be disregarded. “Some people panicked” This summer, the Norwegian Armed Forces were contacted by the police that five guardsmen had used drugs at a party. On 9 August, the case was taken up in the company the guardsmen belonged to. After what several of the guardsmen perceived as threats, a further 25 guardsmen admitted to having used drugs during the time they served their conscription. “My clients consistently describe that the company commander’s behavior caused the soldiers to become very scared, stressed and paranoid, some even panicked. The fear was linked, among other things, to a police report, graduation, loss of study credits, and lack of a place to live,” says the complaint, which news has obtained access to. Inger Zadig is a partner and lawyer in Elden. Photo: Elden Advokatfirma The ex-guardian news has spoken to had been on holiday abroad and was offered something he himself claims he did not realize was a joint. During the meeting on 9 August, the company commander must have presented a list of names from which hair samples were to be taken. They must also have been told that they would be reported to the police if it emerged that they had used drugs without admitting it. “100% sure that what he got was resin” the 19-year-old said shortly after the meeting that he had used cannabis on holiday, and was asked to sign a confession which he says he hardly had time to read. The confession is characterized by typographical errors, which lawyer Zadig believes “should set alarm bells ringing”. The document states both that the guard was sure that he was smoking cannabis, and that he was unsure: “The guard explains that he was at a party in a bar where he had consumed a lot of alcohol. There he met some thugs who offered him a smoke. He was 100% sure that what he got was resin”. Later it says that the guard “will add that he was a little unsure, but afterwards knew 100% that it was resin he had ingested”. news has written verbatim the confession one of the guards claims to have been pressured to sign. Typographical errors in the original confession are therefore included. The guard’s name has been replaced with the word “gardisten” to anonymize him. news has also removed the location abroad the guardsman was on holiday in. The guardsmen fears the consequences of a gap in his CV as a result of his graduation. – Isn’t it smarter not to, if you are in the Armed Forces and they have zero tolerance? – Yes. We must take responsibility for our actions and learn from our mistakes. But the punishment must be proportionate to the action you have taken. – And you don’t feel that it does here? – No. – Why not? – Because I react to the way everything is done. That we have been lied to. That we have simply been deceived. False hair tests and false hopes. The defense has not wanted to comment on the allegations in this case, but has previously denied that the hair samples were a hoax. They say they were not analyzed due to “technical discrepancies”. Addiction and graduation in the Armed Forces Conscripts are informed about the defence’s view on the use of illegal drugs, and that there is zero tolerance for this. This information is given, among other things, during the session, which is the conscripts’ first meeting with the Armed Forces. An entry check is carried out when the conscripts arrive at the camp for the first time with the use of sniffer dogs. Furthermore, random checks may be made through the service. The Norwegian Armed Forces’ narcotics group regularly travels to departments across the branches to carry out preventive work and provide information to conscripts and employees. Around 550 conscripts have been discharged for drug addiction in the last five years, the Norwegian Armed Forces informs. These are approximate numbers. In total, approximately 48,000 conscripts served in the army, navy, air force and home guard during the period. Source: The Norwegian Defense Forces believes the hair samples were fake news has obtained access to e-mails sent by the company commander and the commander of the Military Police. In an e-mail, sent on 19 August to a slanderous recipient, the military police chief writes that they were asked to assist with rust testing on 4 August. He had then replied that they had no opportunity to assist Garden with drug tests until after 16 August. The military police chief wrote that they could then search with dogs, and check those that were marked. Email sent from the head of the Military Police to an unknown recipient. Photo: Screenshot The tests were thus taken before this, by what the ex-guards claim was a commander without competence to carry out rust tests. – They did not follow any of the guidelines they had been given. In the time since, there was no information to be had, they did not want to say anything. So it was just a matter of sitting and waiting, says the former guardsman. According to the guard, the hair test was carried out with a “multitool and bread bag”. Other ex-guards have previously told news this. On his female fellow soldiers, the hair to be used in the hair samples must have been plucked out by hand, according to the complaint. news has asked Garden why they did not wait to carry out the rust tests until competent personnel could take them. They have not responded to this. The guard acknowledges that he did something stupid, but believes the consequences were too severe. Photo: Julia Thommessen / news Attorney Zadig believes that the Norwegian Armed Forces were not allowed to carry out the tests at all. – The armed forces have broken both civil legislation and legislation that applies to the armed forces in particular, and also the armed forces’ own guidelines in this case. – Isn’t the Armed Forces allowed to equip employees and conscripts? – The armed forces are allowed to carry out rust testing in certain cases when the conditions of the law are met. They are not in this case. If you are going to rust test first, you have to follow a set of procedural rules that ensure the rights of those being tested, and that has not been done either. – Understood A total of five days must have passed from the time the confessions were signed until the guards learned that they were to be dismissed. In the meantime, they had to be at Gardeleiren. Now the guardsman hopes to be allowed to complete his military service. In an e-mail to news, the Norwegian Army’s spokesperson Brage Steinson Wiik-Hansen writes that the complaints will now be processed according to the current procedure. Brage Steinson Wiik-Hansen in the Army. Photo: Defense – We fully understand that those involved want a quick review, writes Wiik-Hansen. He writes that the Defense Personnel and Conscription Center (FPVS) has received the complaints and forwarded them to Garden, which will assess them in the first instance. – If there is no new information that changes HMKG’s assessment of the cases, the complaints are sent to FPVS, which goes through the complaints and prepares them for assessment in the Ministry of Defence’s appeals board for conscription cases. Wiik-Hansen also writes that the Army has no opportunity to comment on the content of the complaints.
ttn-69
Narcotics-dismissed guardsmen demand to be reinstated in the Armed Forces – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
