At the preparatory meeting, the ex-soldier, who is accused of trying to force his subordinates to commit a sexual act, denied committing the crime – said the Debrecen Court.
It was written that the military council of the Debrecen Tribunal held a preliminary session on Tuesday in the case of the ex-soldier, against whom the Debrecen Regional Prosecutor’s Office brought charges of two counts of “attempting the crime of sexual coercion committed by abusing another relationship of power and influence in relation to the victim”.
According to the statement, from January 2019, as a supervisor, the man repeatedly tried to get one of the victims to perform sexual acts with him, which the woman refused each time. After the refusal, the commander of the squadron began to criticize the victim’s work and stated that he would continue to do so until the woman gave him permission.
After the victim refused to have sexual relations with the suspect despite all this, the man tried several times to get her to comply with the request with various threats, including her staff relationship.
During an exercise in May 2021 – and later several times – the former soldier told another subordinate that he wanted to perform a sexual act with her. After the victim refused this, the centurion – in order to establish a sexual relationship – criticized her work and threatened to remove her from the army.
The service relationship of the soldier was terminated after the criminal proceedings were ordered.
During the preparatory session, the prosecutor maintained the written indictment, proposed a five-year prison sentence, and marked his evidence.
The court stated that the accused did not waive his right to a trial at the preparatory session and denied committing the crime.
They added: the defendant admitted to the military judge’s question that he had sent erotic or sexual messages to his subordinate, but according to his defense, the purpose of this was not to perform sexual acts with him. He could not give an acceptable explanation to the military judge’s further questions about the crime, and on the advice of his lawyer, he refused to testify.
The military judge referred the case to trial and the evidentiary proceedings began. The criminal proceedings will continue in February with the addition of evidence and the questioning of witnesses proposed by the prosecution and the defense.
MTI
