Loss of military property and accidents with military vehicles: defence of the serviceman

What is happening

It usually begins not with a criminal case but with an internal inquiry. A shortfall turns up in the store, the weapons count does not match after training, a vehicle comes back damaged. The commander demands a written explanation, the inquiry officer takes statements, and the serviceman writes everything himself, without a lawyer, trusting that it will be sorted out.

The file then goes to the military investigative department, where it is decided what the matter really is: a disciplinary breach, damage to be recovered through the service, or a criminal offence. How the circumstances are described in those first statements often shapes the whole later classification.

An accident with a military vehicle adds another layer. It matters whether the journey was authorised, who gave the order, what condition the vehicle was handed over in, and whether there was a movement order. These points are rarely examined unless the defence raises them.

What the law says

• A serviceman's liability for property does not arise automatically. It must be shown that the property was assigned to a particular person, handed over against signature, and that the loss is connected with that person's own conduct.
• Financial liability and criminal liability are separate things. A shortfall may end in recovery of the loss through the service, with no criminal case at all, and that is a lawful outcome.
• Articles 346 to 348 of the Criminal Code distinguish intent from negligence, and both from circumstances outside a person's control: combat conditions, a commander's order, a mechanical fault, or the acts of others.
• The amount of the loss is not simply whatever the unit states. It is calculated under set rules, allowing for wear and the actual condition of the property, and it can be challenged.
• A statement given without a lawyer stays in the case file. You are entitled not to give evidence against yourself and entitled to a defence lawyer from the very start of the inquiry.
• Making good the loss is not in itself an admission of guilt, but the court takes it into account, so the decision to pay should be a considered one rather than a response to pressure.

What we do

• We enter the matter at the inquiry stage, before any case is opened, and attend every interview and questioning.
• We obtain the primary records: inventories, ledgers, handover certificates, movement orders, issue registers, and check whether the property was properly assigned to you at all.
• We challenge the calculation of the loss where it is inflated or made without allowance for wear and write-offs.
• We raise the circumstances the unit would rather not record: the mechanical condition of the vehicle, the orders authorising the journey, unguarded stores, the arrangements for keeping weapons.
• We apply for technical examination and for witnesses from the unit to be questioned.
• We press for the case to be discontinued or reclassified where the material does not support the offence, and conduct the defence on the merits at trial.

What we need from you

• Everything you have already signed: statements, reports, certificates, interview records, even if you signed without reading.
• Documents assigning the property to you: inventories, delivery notes, issue registers, orders on financial liability.
• Accident material: the sketch plan, traffic police or military traffic inspectorate records, the movement order, the order authorising the journey.
• Your service appraisal, an extract of commendations and penalties, and your contract.
• Documents showing the conditions: combat orders and records of the tasks performed, if the events relate to the special military operation area.
• Any decisions and notices served on you, with the dates you received them.