GERMANY: German Defence Minister Mr Peter Struck vowed to crack down on Bundeswehr officers who had tortured recruits in training exercises and said he expects further cases to surface.
In a series of interviews, Mr Struck said he was distressed that recruits put through exercises to simulate torture by hostage-takers did not report the abuses sooner and urged any soldiers who faced such "illegal orders" to come forward now.
"I want to put things in order. I want a clean Bundeswehr and I can only do that if these incidents are reported," Mr Struck told German radio.
"I have the suspicion that in the days ahead a number of soldiers will step forward who had similar experiences."
Mr Struck said last week he would sack any soldier found guilty of abuse in the wake of the scandal. Prosecutors are investigating one officer and 30 other soldiers over allegations that recruits were subject to electric shocks at a base in Coesfeld.
"I expect to be getting information about where the problems are," Mr Struck said.
Because of the abuses of the Nazi era, soldiers in Germany's post-war army get detailed training in human rights and are explicitly urged to report commanders who violate those rights.
"The excesses in the army are distressing," Mr Struck said in a column for Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "But it depresses me just as much that the recruits remained silent for so long. We cannot allow that sort of climate to spread in the Bundeswehr."
While on overnight training marches in Germany, the recruits were ambushed by trainers disguised as Arab guerrillas. They were tied up and their heads covered with cloth sacks. They were lined up on their knees in a basement and sprayed with water.
Two recruits were tortured with electric shocks. Witnesses said the two abused soldiers were "psychologically broken" and cried all night after returning to barracks.