The contractor was sentenced to 5.5 years in the colony for “self-wolf”

The court in Stavropol sentenced the father of many children, Vitaly Matkin, who was serving under a contract in Severomorsk, to five and a half years in a penal colony in a criminal case of involuntary desertion. This is reported by “Kommersant” with reference to the court’s decision.

Matkin signed a contract on July 27, 2022 and served as a machinist of the non-flooding team in the coastal part.

On September 26, he received permission from the command to leave the military unit, he had to return to it by 15:00 of the same day. But Matkin did not return to the unit. He first left for Ryazan, where there was a family – a wife and three children, and then he went to Stavropol, where he had an apartment. He started working as a taxi driver in Stavropol. In December, he was stopped by a traffic police patrol and Matkin was taken to the police, where it turned out that he was wanted in a criminal case of leaving a car without permission.

Matkin admitted his guilt. Lawyer Svetlana Vasilieva noted that at the time of leaving the part, Matkin had not passed the probationary period under the contract, which, in accordance with it, had to be terminated.

The court did not take into account when passing the sentence that Matkin has three minor children and a dependent wife, that he had not previously been brought to criminal responsibility, served in the FSIN and fought in the North Caucasus.

In Transbaikalia, the court sentenced a person mobilized under the article on desertion to seven years in a strict regime colony. This is reported on the court’s website.

According to the investigation, the convict was called up for war with Ukraine as part of the mobilization on September 21, 2022. On November 24, he left the military unit. On January 18, he was detained by the police.

The case was brought to court on March 14, the judge announced the verdict on April 7. The sentence entered into legal force. The court came to the conclusion that the serviceman did not intend to return to the location of the unit. Because of this, the case was considered under the article on desertion, and not on the arbitrary abandonment of the unit.

• In September 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a law on amendments to the Criminal Code, which increased prison terms for desertion and desertion during hostilities and mobilization. The first criminal case was initiated in December 2022 in Murmansk.

• According to data as of the end of March 2023, 536 criminal cases have already been filed in Russian military courts under the articles tightened after the start of mobilization. 471 of them – that’s 88% – were initiated under the article about the arbitrary abandonment of the unit.