Defense dismisses the captain who directed the exercises in which two soldiers died in Cerro Muriano (Córdoba)

SEVILLA, 11 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ministry of Defense has dismissed the captain who directed the exercises in which two soldiers died in Cerro Muriano, in Córdoba. The command is transferred to the active duty status "pending destination assignment". This is how it appears published in the Official Defense Bulletin (BOD) published this Thursday and consulted by Europa Press. In it, the Ministry specifies that an appeal "may be filed" against the termination resolution within one month.

The measure adopted by the Ministry of Margarita Robles is known days after the family of soldier Carlos León Rico, a native of El Viso del Alcor (Seville) who died last December along with Corporal Miguel Ángel Jiménez Andújar in some maneuvers at the base of the Guzmán el Bueno

In a statement, after Captain Zúñiga (now dismissed), Lieutenant Tato and Sergeant Estupiñán appeared last Friday as investigated before the Military Court number 21 of Seville; Lawyer Luis Romero, who represents the family of the late soldier Carlos León Rico, explained that he has sent a letter to the Minister of Defense.

In said letter, according to his statement, he demanded that Defense report on aspects such as whether the captain and lieutenant investigated in this case still command or have commanded soldiers in exercises or maneuvers after the fateful exercise to cross the artificial lake at the Cerro base. Muriano on December 21, resulting in the death of the two aforementioned officers.

At that point, the lawyer asked if, after publicly announcing that the captain investigated in the judicial case would be removed from command, "he was only changed companies." He also asked to clarify whether the captain and lieutenant have or have "under their command military witnesses to the events of December 21 at the lake"; as well as information on whether Captain Zúñiga "has previously had any disciplinary proceedings opened and has been sanctioned for it" or on "what security measures were followed" during the exercise.

According to this lawyer, in the maneuver the troops were ordered to cross an artificial lake at the Cerro Muriano base "without having the most basic security measures, assuming" the aforementioned military commanders "the extreme risk that this could cause." , consciously knowing and contemplating that it is most likely that in the event that a situation like the one that occurred occurred, there were no adequate security measures," according to lawyer Luis Romero.

"They were fully aware of this, since many of the witnesses narrate that they had proposed to leave it for another day, but the captain did not want to. In this line, what was expressed by a soldier is striking, reporting that the captain said: 'I'm sweating the cock, everyone inside,'" details the story of this particular accusation. He then points out testimonies that "report that some soldiers swallowed a lot of water and fainted, became unconscious and lost consciousness, and others suffered hypothermia, damaging the physical integrity of many of the participants" in the exercise.

For the lawyer, "the objective imputation weighs in the present case, since the captain was in the position of guarantor, having been able to avoid the fatal result of two deaths through the action that was required of him and has omitted, in this case, to ensure that have adequate security measures; and if they were not available, have postponed the practice, something that was proposed by many of the soldiers."

The representation of the family of the deceased Sevillian soldier adds that the colonel who approved the maneuver knew that it was not included in the Basic Training Plan of an infantry soldier; while the captain's defense specifies on his side that the exercise in which these deaths occurred, the crossing of an artificial lake, is not "specifically regulated in any of the almost" 300 manuals" of a report from the General Staff.

"The other figures mentioned are part of the responsible chain of command and transmit the colonel's orders, people who should have supervised that everything was correct and legally established, something that was not done either," the family of the deceased soldier also adds; insisting that the supposed "lifeline" installed in the lake "was not such, but was simply a guide rope, which also seems to have been released by the people who were on the shore, obeying the captain's order" .

All this, in a framework in which "there were no lifeguards or rescue equipment (such as life-saving floats, etc.) or personnel on the side of the lake supervising the practice of the wading maneuver"; nor was there "an ambulance or emergency health or medical personnel."