Secretary of Defense Curtis Fondaden was being questioned in Congressional Hall Wednesday over allegations that he knew about and covered up recently discovered documents that proved that a massacre during the Bjeorg Conflict in 1991 was committed by three Zamastanian soldiers.
The alleged killings took place during the landings at Old Saybrook on July 30th, 1991. Commander Austin Wilson and two of his men had began killing civilians who were gathered up by the platoon that had just captured the small fishing village from enemy combatants. While Maximusian forces occupied themselves in the north, Zamastanian forces stormed the beaches in the south. The invasion cost 35 Zamastanian lives, but over 260 Bjeorgites were killed. Commander Wilson and two of his men gunned down 27 unarmed civilians before being killed by a fellow soldier. The platoon then moved the soldier's bodies as well as the bodies of the slain civilians to make it appear to the higher command that they had been killed in battle, not afterwards.
Fondaden, who was a field officer during the conflict, claims he had no knowledge of the killings until the documents were released late June by a soldier present during the massacre - Nicholas Henners whose rank at the time of the incident was private.
"I had no knowledge prior to the leaking of the documents," Fondaden said during the hearing, "nor to my knowledge did anyone who is currently working at the Defense Department or who worked in administrative positions or direct combat and strategic command in the past 28 years."
"It is the duty of the Zamastanian Armed Forces to protect and serve the citizens and interests of our nation. We would never condone or order the intentional killings of civilians."
The massacre is being investigated from locals who claim they experienced the event first hand and from soldiers who may have been present.