MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) – Cases of child pornography and child grooming have been documented in the Australian military, The Australian reported Monday.
According to the news agency, the figures provided by the Australian military police suggest that hundreds of military personnel were suspected of sexual offences against children in the past few years. These figures are present in a confidential briefing that was put together in May last year for General David Hurley, the then chief of the Australian Defense Force.
Referencing the briefing, The Australian reports that the military police have been informed about 102 cases of “non-assaultive sexual offences against a child” since 2008, almost all of which have been dealt with by civilian police. 21 cases happened in the past year alone, the website comments.
The briefing also documents 104 reports of severe sexual offences, rapes by military personnel among them.
The briefing, which was first released in June last year, also showed that the military email system was used to transmit explicit images of women without consent. That scandal saw 10 officers and soldiers being dismissed from the army, The Australian relates.
“The ADF is using all available mechanisms to actively hold people who fail to live up to our values and expected behaviors to account”, the Australian Defense Force was quoted as saying on Monday.
It is additionally reported that the rough number of servicemen who have been dismissed from the army as a result of these scandals is 200.
