Harald Sunde (general)
Harald Sunde | |
|---|---|
 Sunde in Afghanistan | |
| Born | 9 March 1954 Hurdal, Norway |
| Allegiance | Norway |
| Service/ |  Norwegian Army |
| Rank | General |
| Commands | Chief of Defence Chief of National Joint Headquarters |
General Harald Sunde (born 9 March 1954 in Hurdal) is a Norwegian military officer currently serving as the head of the Norwegian Armed Forces. On 29 May 2009 his appointment to succeed General Sverre Diesen as Chief of Defence of Norway on 1 October 2009 was confirmed by the government.[1][2]
Criticism
Follow-up of crimes and alleged crimes committed by Norwegian ISAF soldiers in Afghanistan
The Judge Advocate General(krigsadvokaten) criticized Sunde in October 2010, as a result of Sunde's command's not having notified military police after claims had been made about war crimes possibly having been committed by Norwegian soldiers.[3] (The only crimes which were acknowledged by soldiers, were a number of instances of spraypainting images of skulls (Totenkopf) onto buildings belonging to civillians — to show that Norwegian soldiers (of Telemark Battalion) were in charge of their area of operation in Afghanistan. The crimes involving spraypainting, have not been prosecuted by Norway as of 2011.)
Decommissioning og Home Guard unit HV-016
The decommissioning of HV-016 led to criticism by Jan Reksten (a former Chief of Forsvarets operative hovedkvarter (FOH) and retired vice-admiral) — "It is Norway's parliament that decides on the [general] tasks and organization of Forsvaret. Therefore it is totally wrong for a government agency's chief to decommission a unit without consulting the parliament."[4]
Verdens Gang wrote in December 2011, that the decommissioning has led to "massiv criticism".[5]
Formal complaints against Sunde reported to police and JAG
Former members of military unit HV-016 have filed complaints with Norwegian Police and with Judge Advocate General, against Sunde in 2011.[6] Spokesman for Forsvarsledelsen, E.Kvarving, has acknowledged the existence of the formal complaints and declined to comment any further.[7] The police dropped (henleggelse) the complaint later in 2011, and the appeal of that decision is being reviewed by the office of the District Attorney of Oslo (Oslo statsadvokatembete).[8]
Review by Office of the Auditor General
On December 12, 2011 media reported that the decommissioning of the unit will be investigated by the Office of the Auditor General.[9] (3 years earlier, the same agency found "a lack of tracibility within the documentation for significant decisions" at the defence ministry.[10])
References
- ^ Schiager, Espen (2009-05-29). "Change in leadership". Norwegian Armed Forces. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
- ^ Schiager, Espen (2009-05-29). "Harald Sunde blir ny forsvarssjef". Norwegian Armed Forces (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2009-05-29.
- ^ Verdens Gang, October 9, 2010 p.6: Generaldvokat Arne Willy Dahl angriper forsvarssjef Harald Sunde for å la være å varsle militærpolitiet etter påstandene om krigsforbrytelser., from the article Slakter at Forsvaret gransker seg selv(translation: The Norwegian Military criticized for investigating itself), by journalist Marianne Johansen.
- ^ http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/oslobomben/artikkel.php?artid=10024091 "I november i fjor gikk pensjonert viseadmiral og tidligere sjef for Forsvarets operative hovedkvarter (FOH), Jan Reksten, langt i sin kritikk av forsvarssjefen overfor Aftenposten: - Det er Stortinget som fastsetter oppgaver og organisasjon for Forsvaret. Derfor blir det helt feil at en etatssjef legger ned avdelingen uten å ta det opp med Stortinget, sa Reksten."
- ^ http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/oslobomben/artikkel.php?artid=10024091 "Ved nyttår la imidlertid forsvarssjef Harald Sunde ned avdelingen. Han mente det ikke var bruk for dem lenger. Det har han fått massiv kritikk for."
- ^ http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10097543
- ^ "Anmeldt av sine egne", Aftenposten, 2011-08-10 page 2 by Nicolai Heyerdahl: "Talsmann Eystein Kvarving for Forsvarsledelsen bekrefter at han er kjent med anmeldelsen, men ønsker ikke å kommentere innholdet."
- ^ http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/11/02/nyheter/arbeidsliv/harald_sunde/anmeldelse/forsvaret/18854990/
- ^ (translation of title: Faremo and Sunde under the magnifying glass) "Faremo og Sunde under lupen" "Nå vil Riksrevisjonen gå gjennom hvilke vurderinger som ble gjort i Forsvarsdepartementet under behandlingen av den betente saken. ... Nå skal dette følges opp, og VG får opplyst at nedleggelsen av Heimevernsavdelingen HV016 i fjor blir gjenstand for undersøkelser."
- ^ (translation of title: Faremo and Sunde under the magnifying glass) "Faremo og Sunde under lupen" "For tre år siden avdekket revisjonen svakheter i beslutningsprosessene i Forsvaret. Der ble det slått fast en «manglende sporbarhet i dokumentasjonen av vesentlige beslutninger»."
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