The soldier, identified as J. Wegenaar, is appearing before the military chamber of the Arnhem district court. His lawyers told the court that he had refused to serve because the Dutch army had not provided proper psychological care following an earlier mission in Afghanistan. They said Wegenaar was still suffering psychological problems from his first tour of duty between October 2004 and January 2005.

ANP reported that the soldier told the judges that the Afghanistan mission was ‘a suicide mission’ because the soldiers were not properly trained or prepared for what awaited them.

The Netherlands has sent 1,550 soldiers to the violent southern Afghan province of Uruzgan to serve with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).