A soldier from the Murmansk region was convicted for refusing to fight in Ukraine

The Zaozer Garrison Military Court in the Murmansk Region sentenced Senior Lieutenant Dmytro Vasylts to two years and five months in a colony-settlement. He was found guilty of disobeying an order due to his refusal to go to war with Ukraine. Mediazona reports this with reference to lawyer Elvyra Tarasova.

Vasylets served in Pechenga in the Murmansk region and in February 2022 took part in a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. He stayed in the combat zone for five months, after which he received a leave of absence. At the same time, the serviceman went to Buryatia to visit the relatives of his dead friends. After this trip, Vasylets, as he put it, “adopted the philosophy of Buddhism.” Because of this, when the command again ordered him to go to combat operations, he refused, explaining it by his convictions.

Vasylets submitted a report on his refusal to participate in hostilities. After that, a criminal case was opened against him. In the resolution on the initiation of the case, it is stated that Senior Lieutenant Dmytro Vasylets “being healthy and fit for military service, having no medical restrictions for the execution of the order, in the presence of an objective possibility of its execution, acting deliberately, realizing the nature of his actions, refused to execute it, by refusing to participate in hostilities”.

Earlier, “Mediazona” reported that 536 cases against military personnel were brought to the Russian courts – they were brought under the articles that were tightened simultaneously with the announcement of mobilization in September of last year. By the end of March 2023, Russian garrison military courts had already issued 247 verdicts in cases of involuntary desertion, disobedience of orders, and desertion during the mobilization period.

• At the beginning of March, the Perm Garrison Court sentenced a serviceman from Buryatia to 5 years in a general regime colony for leaving his post during military operations. According to the press service of the department, at the same time, the court convicted two more soldiers in similar cases – they were sentenced to 5 and 5.5 years in prison.
• The Garrison Military Court of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk sentenced a serviceman who voluntarily left his place of service twice in order not to get involved in the war in Ukraine to three years in prison.
• After the start of the mobilization, announced by President Vladimir Putin on September 21, 2022, part 5 was added to Article 337 of the Criminal Code of Russia “unwillingly leaving a part or a place of service by a serviceman during the period of mobilization or conducting hostilities”, which provides for up to 10 years of imprisonment.