The Sevastopol Garrison Military Court has sentenced a contract soldier to 5 years and 6 months in a strict regime colony who left the temporary deployment point in the Kherson region, partly occupied by Russia. This was reported to RIA Novosti by the press service of the court.
Serviceman Ch. was found guilty under the article on desertion (Part 2 of Article 338 of the Criminal Code). The case card has not been published on the court's website.
“Ch., in order to evade military service and not wanting to perform the duties of military service, without good reason, arbitrarily left a temporary deployment point on the territory of the Kherson region with a Kalashnikov assault rifle entrusted to him with a magazine, which subsequently hid,” the press service said.
The contractor was detained at a checkpoint in Armyansk while trying to get into Crimea back in January, the court noted. The soldier pleaded not guilty.
Most often, military conscientious objectors are charged with an article on the unauthorized abandonment of a unit (337 of the Criminal Code). As Mediazona found out, from January to the first week of May 2023, Russian courts received 1,053 criminal cases under this article, 53 more than in the entire past year. To qualify the escape under a more serious article on desertion, according to lawyers, the investigation needs to prove the intent of the military «to stop serving forever.» class=»mz-publish-context-cite__image» alt=»1″ />How will they consider cases of evasion of military service, AWOL and surrender. We analyze the decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court

