§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Lichfield and Tamworth (Mr. Heddle) relating to the inquiries, into the death and injury of Argentine prisoners of war while in British custody on the Falkland Islands, approximately how many Argentine prisoners of war were accommodated in the sheep-shearing shed at Goose Green; what was the rank of the three British soldiers engaged on the task of moving ammunition; what action was taken by the Royal Army Medical Corps in relation to the sergeant who shot the Argentine prisoner of war; whether he will define his phrase "without coercion" and whether Argentines volunteered for work classified as dangerous under the third Geneva convention of 1949; in what circumstances Argentine army engineers volunteered on 2 July 1982 to locate minefields on Stanley Common; when he expects a response from the Government of Brazil on the report on the explosion of ordnance on 1 June 1982; and what was the rank of the British officers referred to in paragraph 9 of the report on the explosion of ordnance on 1 June 1982, investigating the shooting of an Argentine prisoner of war in a fire.
§ Mr. WigginAbout 1,000 Argentine prisoners of war were captured in the Goose Green area. The three British soldiers who guarded the prisoners of war moving ammunition were all privates. As the report on the incidents at both Goose Green and Pebbly Pond makes clear, the Argentine prisoners of war were volunteers for the respective tasks of moving ammunition and marking the minefields and were not coerced into undertaking the work. The case of the sergeant who shot an Argentine prisoner has been considered by the competent legal authorities, who have concluded that no proceedings should be instituted. The British officers who investigated the shooting were a major and a captain. No response is expected from the Brazilian Government who have been asked, as the protecting power, to pass a copy of the report to the Argentine Government.