A contract worker who fled the war in Ukraine received 5.5 years in prison

The Sochi Garrison Military Court found contract serviceman Alexander Kondratiev guilty of involuntary desertion and sentenced him to five and a half years in prison. The verdict states that the serviceman left the unit “while performing special tasks.”

According to 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 zone of “special tasks” on the territory of Ukraine, which means his participation in the war. In July, he left his place of duty and traveled home to the village of Afipsky near Krasnodar to spend time with his family. Kondratiev returned to the military unit only on December 30.

Against the contractor, a criminal case was opened under two articles – about the arbitrary abandonment of the unit and the same crime during the mobilization announced in the country and the conditions for conducting hostilities. According to the first article, the court sentenced him to one hour of imprisonment, and for leaving a part already in the conditions of mobilization – five years. In total, the contractor was sentenced to five and a half years in a general regime colony, and he was arrested in the courtroom. The defendant fully admitted his guilt.

• As of the end of March, the garrison courts of Russia received 536 cases under the articles of the Criminal Code on arbitrary desertion and non-compliance with command orders, which were tightened with the beginning of mobilization. In the study of “Mediazony” it is indicated that verdicts under these articles are usually hidden from the public by not publishing them on court websites.
• Kavkaz.Realii gives several examples of sentences under these articles. In particular, the court in Vladikavkaz sentenced contract worker Sergei Osipov to six years in a general regime colony for arbitrarily leaving a unit in the annexed Crimea. In June, he left his post and returned home to Vladikavkaz, where he stayed until December 12, according to the court ruling. The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don upheld the sentence of Vitaly Matkin, a private in military unit No. 09906, for voluntarily leaving the unit. The contractor received five and a half years in a general regime colony. The Budyonny Garrison Military Court in the Stavropol Krai found the mobilized Daniil Pystsov guilty of voluntarily deserting a military unit and sentenced him to five years of imprisonment in a general regime colony.