the taboo of harassment in the army

The confirmed homicide of the American soldier who admitted to her family being sexually harassed on her military base casts a long silence in the culture of secrecy.

Disappeared since April 22, Vanessa Guillén, a 20-year-old soldier in the American army, was identified via the human remains found on June 30 in central Texas. Officials at the Fort Hood military base where she worked confirmed this information. A “grim but predictable” story, writes the Washington Post. Vanessa Guillén had confided to her family before her disappearance that "she had been sexually harassed, but that she feared to report the incidents to her hierarchy," recalls the Washington Post.

This media interviewed some other soldiers who consider this case to be "Emblematic of a military culture which they claim has downplayed or ignored allegations of sexual harassment and assault and has created an atmosphere that prompts men and women to silence the charges".

The young woman had charged one of the two suspects in the murder, Private Aaron Robinson, who also worked at the barracks. He would have watched her without her knowledge while she was taking a shower, her family lawyer, Natalie Khawam, told France-Presse (AFP). The man committed suicide last Wednesday after a confrontation with local police.

"She had reported it to her family, friends and colleagues," said Master Khawam. But Vanessa Guillén did not want to make a formal report for fear of reprisals, assured her family.

On the military side, investigator Damon Phelps said last Thursday at a press conference that he currently has no "credible information" confirming the harassment charge. sexual.

Fort Hood Commander-in-Chief General Scott Efflandt said at a press conference on Monday that "everyone who swears to serve his family and his country in uniform deserves to be safe and treated with dignity and respect. "

According to the New York Times, confirmation of the victim's death came at a time when his family "called for an investigation" and asked for changes in the US military's treatment of "reports of sexual harassment and assault".

"You know that if it is not you, one of your colleagues has experienced it. Murder is rare, but sexual harassment and fear of reprisals – this is not the case unique. ”said Martina Chesonis, a U.S. Air Force reserve officer, at Washington Post.

A case that affected the whole nation

The affair has moved figures such as former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden. "We owe it to those in uniform, and to their families, to end harassment and sexual assault in the military, and to hold the perpetrators accountable," he said in a statement.

US parliamentarians, 90 in total, signed a letter from Democrat Representative Sylvia Garcia requesting that the Pentagon's Inspector General "Launch an independent investigation into the disappearance and death of Guillén", can be read in Courrier International. And more than 2,500 soldiers and veterans are also requesting a similar investigation.

Relayed by AFP, there is another suspect in this case, Cecily Aguilar. She was charged on Thursday with falsifying evidence. Aaron Robinson, her ex-husband, is said to have told Cecily Aguilar that she had killed a soldier by hitting her on the head with a hammer. The two suspects mutilated and then moved the body of Vanessa Guillen not far from the military barracks, according to a press release from the United States Department of Justice.

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Video by Clara Poudevigne