The Sochi Garrison Military Court found contract serviceman Alexander Kondratyev guilty of leaving the unit without permission and sentenced him to five and a half years in prison. The verdict says the soldier left the unit “while performing special duties.”
As it appears from the documents, Kondratiev signed a three-year contract with the Ministry of Defense on March 22, 2022. On April 15, he was sent to the “special tasks” zone in Ukraine, which meant his participation in the war. In July, he left the place of service and, passing cars, returned home to the village of Afipsky near Krasnodar to spend time with his family. Kondratyev returned to the military unit only on December 30.
A criminal case was opened against the contractor under two articles – on the unauthorized abandonment of the unit and the same crime during the announced mobilization in the country and the conditions for the conduct of hostilities. Under the first article, the court sentenced him to one year in prison, and for leaving the unit already in the conditions of mobilization – five years. In total, the entrepreneur was sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony, he was arrested in the courtroom. The accused fully admitted his guilt.
At the end of March, the garrison courts of Russia received 536 cases under the toughened articles of the Criminal Code with the start of mobilization on the unauthorized abandonment of the unit and the non-execution of command orders. The Mediazona study indicates that sentences under these articles are generally hidden from the public without publishing them on court websites.
Kavkaz.Realii gives several example sentences under these articles. In particular, a court in Vladikavkaz sentenced entrepreneur Sergei Osipov to six years in a penal colony for leaving a military unit in annexed Crimea without permission. In June, he left the place of duty and returned home to Vladikavkaz, where he remained until December 12, according to the court order. The Military Court of the Southern District of Rostov-on-Don approved the conviction of Vitaly Matkin, an ordinary military unit No. 09906, for leaving the unit without permission. The entrepreneur received five and a half years in a general regime colony. The Budyonnovsky Garrison Military Court in the Stavropol Territory found mobilized Daniil Pistsov guilty of leaving the military unit without permission and sentenced him to five years in prison in a general-regime colony.
Read the Ukraine War News Latest Today on The Eastern Herald.
