Grenade blast inside Dutch army vehicle will not be prosecuted

There will be no new investigation or prosecution in the explosion of a hand grenade in a Dutch army vehicle in Afghanistan in 2010, the Public Prosecutor announced. An analysis by the Koninklijke Marechaussee - a policing force that works as part of the Dutch military - did not reveal any new facts, the Telegraaf reports.

The case involves a hand grenade exploding in a Bushmaster vehicle at Camp Coyote in Uruzgan. At the time two Dutch soldiers were suspected of setting of the grenade. One of them was Admilson R., who was sentenced to 30 years in prison and institutionalized psychiatric care in November 2015 for three robberies-turned-murders in Drenthe. The appeal on this case is currently ongoing. The other was a soldier who narrowly survived the explosion.

The Marechaussee re-analyzed the case at the request of the Public Prosecutor after the second soldier, who narrowly survived the blast, pressed charges against R. According to the second soldier, R. was the one who set off the grenade in the vehicle. The Marechaussee investigation showed that one of the two soldiers must have caused the explosion, but as there was no one else there and both deny doing so, it is impossible to say who was responsible. It is clear that R. verbally warned his colleague shortly before the explosion.

The veteran's lawyer, Sebas Diekstra, called the decision not to launch a new criminal investigation disappointing, but added that he is satisfied with the "thoroughly done investigation" by the Marechaussee.