In Volgograd, military men were convicted. They gave a bribe not to go to the front

A court in Volgograd sentenced five servicemen for bribing a commander to avoid being sent to war in Ukraine again. This is reported by Kommersant. One of them was sentenced to a real term, two to conditional sentences, two more to fines.

Initially, servicemen of one of the motorized rifle battalions of the Southern Military District were charged under the article of bribing an official for knowingly illegal actions. Later, four of them changed parts of the article to softer ones.

The charges against one of the defendants, Vladyslav Kolganov, were not reduced. He received a real term. His lawyer believes that he received a harsher sentence because he did not stay in the army, but got a job at a military factory. As a result, he was sentenced to two years in a general regime colony and a fine of 750,000 rubles. The appeal upheld the verdict, the defender plans to file a cassation appeal.

Two more defendants were sentenced to three years of probation and fines of 500 and 750 thousand rubles, the third – only to a fine of 150 thousand rubles. At the same time, the amount of the bribe was 100 thousand rubles.

It is not known whether the acting battalion commander, who offered bribes to servicemen not to return to the war, has been charged.

• Since the beginning of 2023, the courts of the Southern Military District have considered dozens of cases regarding soldiers who left the unit due to their refusal to fight against Ukraine or their desire to rest. If earlier for this they were often punished with a suspended sentence, now mobilized and contract workers are sent to a colony for five to six years. The same amount can be given, for example, for robbery, bribery or rape. Human rights activists note: the key task of such harsh sentences is to intimidate others, so that soldiers do not even think of refusing to participate in the war.
• In the south of Russia and in the North Caucasus, several cases of mass refusals of contract workers to participate in the war are known. For example, the Russian Guards of Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia filed the largest number of lawsuits in court, trying to challenge their dismissal after refusing to participate in the invasion of Ukraine.