THE sister of an ex-soldier in an Indian prison for a crime he didn t commit has urged the Government to help. Six former soldiers, with a combined 74 years of service, were jailed in January after being detained as they protected ships from Somali pirates. Indian officials accused them of importing guns for jihadists, even when told their weapons were legally held.
They are now serving five years in Chennai. Among the six is John Armstrong, 29, who served with Colchester-based 3 Para for four years. John served on a six-month tour of Afghanistan before getting a job in anti-piracy security.
His sister Joanne Tomlinson, 30, said the six ex-soldiers are sharing a cell in squalid conditions.
They don t have much food, it is pretty much one main meal a day which is vegetables, they are sleeping on concrete floors, the toilet is a hole in the ground. John has lost more than 3st one jail and has been taken to hospital with injections. His family, who are based in Wigton, Cumbria, regularly send him food parcels and letters to boost his spirits.
Joanne will be flying out to see her brother, who previously lived at home with parents Helen and John, on Sunday. Joanne, who has visited John previously, added: When you come to leave after his visits it is just awful because you don t know when you are going to see him again. She continued: We had quite a lot of communication with the minister of the commonwealth office. He flew over and visited the men in June.
The British High Commissioner in India visited as well. That sent a very clear signal that they know the men haven t done anything wrong, so because of that we feel they The Government could do more to help us now.
Since the Government changed over we haven t heard much of them.
We would like to know what Prime Minister Theresa May really does think about the case and what more she can do to help and how she can do things differently, and whether Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson can do anything differently. John joined the Army in 2009 and went straight into elite 3 Para, choosing it because he wanted to push himself. Puzhal Central Prison houses 3,000 inmates including murderers and rapists.
The heroes plan to appeal. But the Indian justice system is notoriously slow. Suspects can spend a decade on remand only to see charges dropped.
The men were among a 35-strong crew of Brits, Indians, Estonians and a Ukrainian on board US-owned anti-piracy vessel MV Seaman Guard Ohio as it was detained in October 2013. The men s pleas that the weapons were lawfully held for anti-piracy purposes fell on deaf ears even though their paperwork, issued by the UK Government, was in order. After more than two years of legal wrangling the six were jailed.
More than 460million is spent every year by shipping firms on armed guards to protect vessels from Somali pirates.
Many are former soldiers attracted by the high wages paid to on-ship security guards because of the huge risks involved.
