Crude joke leads to legal action against Kainuu Brigade conscripts

National servicemen wrote vulgar descriptions of their female counterparts in booklet

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A group of national servicemen who systematically humiliated their female counterparts were charged with defamation and a service offence by the Kajaani District Court on Wednesday.
      Eleven corporals already discharged from the Kainuu Brigade Signals Company wrote defamatory and vulgar expressions to eight female corporals. A booklet containing the texts was handed over to the women two days before they were discharged in July of last year.
      The booklet, meant as a crude joke, was too much for the women. In the texts some of the female conscripts were urged to kill themselves. After a police investigation the matter was handed over to the public prosecutor.
      In court the men admitted the existence of the booklet, but said that the texts in it were written outside the service time. The booklet had been worked on for some six months before its delivery.
     
One of the accused told the court that the purpose of the writings was to unload sentiments towards the women. The booklet contained a page-long description of each one of the women.
      The court will deliver its ruling on the case on June 10th.
      “A matter-of-fact written appraisal is part of modern leadership training, and it should not provoke foolishness”, says Kainuu Brigade commander, Brigade General Sakari Honkamaa.
      According to Honkamaa, booklets characterising comrades in a positive light are exchanged for example in confirmation schools. In the appraisals of national servicemen leaders, getting personal is strictly forbidden.
      “Impertinent writings are childish and primarily speak of the corporals’ low self-esteem”, Honkamaa adds.
     
The Kainuu Brigade is Finland’s largest detachment, when measured by the number of conscripts.
      At present, 1,850 men and 20 women are carrying out their military service in the brigade. A third of the women have been promoted as corporals.


Links:
  Kainuu Brigade (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat