Since Sweden reinstated universal national military service, three people have been sent to prison for attempting to shirk from their assigned duty.
In two cases, the young men involved dropped out of military service, while in the third case, the young man simply did not show up for it, Sveriges Radio reports.
André, 20, was one of the three and was notified of his conscription last summer but said he began to have second thoughts. “I was left in the room. All I thought was that I didn’t want to be there,” he said.
He fled the service after his first day despite having passed all the testing requirements. A district court ruled that André had no valid excuse to run from his duty and sentenced him to 14 days in prison.
“I think it’s my choice. If I do not want to, I should not be forced,” he said.
Bengt Forssten, department manager at the Recruitment Authority who oversees admissions into the programme, said motivation is an important factor in the selection process but added, “It is not a reason to avoid service; repent or change motivation.”
The Swedish military currently has around 260 individuals attempting to get out of service with various reasons from claims of injuries to others who do not want to handle weapons.
Several more courts are currently dealing with other cases where valid reasons for not serving have been ruled out.
In 2015, polling firm Gallup conducted research to determine how many men and women across the world were willing to fight for their country. The survey found that just over half, 55 per cent, of Swedes were willing to defend Sweden.
Other European countries saw much lower results in the survey with only 18 per cent of Germans willing to fight, and just 15 per cent of Dutch. Globally, the country with the fewest number willing to fight was Japan, with only 11 percent.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.