Translated material
Theft and assault
The chief military prosecutor spoke about crime in the armed forces
Yesterday, the chief military prosecutor, Colonel General of Justice Alexander Savenkov, announced that a criminal case had been opened against captain 2nd rank Sergei Zhemchuzhnov, who led the towing of the sunken nuclear submarine K-159. He was charged with violating navigation rules. Crime, including negligent crime, in the military environment remains a disease that is not yet very treatable. The general cited figures that hide many human tragedies. In the first six months of this year, in all ten departments where the law provides for military service, 1,200 people suffered from crimes. For comparison: last year there were 2,465 such people, of which 16 died. The number of hazing cases increased by a quarter compared to last year and reached almost two thousand.This year, military justice was faced with a new phenomenon for the armed forces - a sharp, 40% increase in cases of assault. Moreover, five people were beaten to death. Since the beginning of the year, 160 criminal cases have been initiated against those who let their hands go, several of them against bosses who hid the fight. There are quite exotic cases of commanders influencing careless subordinates. In one of the units, the deputy commander, a major, “for systematic absence from duty” put the lieutenant in the basement and kept him there under lock and key for almost three months. The major was sentenced to a year in prison, and not suspended.
And although the chief military prosecutor believes that assault in the army must be “systematically fought,” the reasons for the phenomenon lie on the surface. The fact is that with the recent abolition of the guardhouse as such, officers lost perhaps their main lever of influence over barracks hooligans and drunkards. Today, the commander has the right to put the offender in a cell for temporary detention only for 24 hours. During this time, Mr. Savenkov is sure, the court and the prosecutor’s office will have time to make a decision to extend the arrest. The troops and even the Ministry of Defense itself think differently. It will take more than one day to get from remote, remote garrisons to the prosecutor's office or court. Lawyers do not give agreements to arrest by telegraph.
The Ministry of Defense and the Main Military Prosecutor's Office are inundated with numerous requests from officers from all military districts and fleets asking for the return of the guardhouse. Alexander Savenkov agrees with the officers, but with only one reservation: it is necessary to place a serviceman in a guardhouse only through a judicial procedure. As is customary all over the world. This option has long been worked out and agreed upon with many interested departments. The only thing that slows things down, as Mr. Savenkov puts it, is the “inertia of the military commanders,” who want to return to the previous order of determination “on the fly.” That is, to imprison again without trial.
The second area of work for military prosecutors today is the search for missing weapons. Over the past ten years, 4,695 small arms have been stolen from the armed forces. During this time, we found 3858 units. And in total, from 1949 to this day, 3,600 guns are wanted. By the way, it’s not just guns that are stolen. In the Volga-Ural Military District, an EMERCOM officer stole 150 kg of explosives, in the Leningrad Military District, ten Strela MANPADS were stolen; in the Pacific Fleet, midshipman Gasanov was sentenced to six years for the theft of 400 kg of TNT and two thousand electric detonators.
Military prosecutors have taken seriously those who use disenfranchised soldiers to build their dachas. In Novosibirsk, General Mikhailov was sentenced to three years in prison for this. Most often, conscripts are used as free labor in the North Caucasus Military District. A team from the Main Military Prosecutor's Office recently worked there specifically. Next week, at the military council of the district, General Savenkov will talk about the results. “Now no shoulder straps or stripes will save you from criminal liability if a person has committed a crime,” he said. In confirmation, the chief military prosecutor said that recently the commander of the Russian border group in Armenia, Lieutenant General Aboimov, was charged with committing a selfish crime that caused damage to the state of several million rubles. Criminal cases are being investigated against five more generals.
The most thieving of the military districts is the Far Eastern. Three criminal cases have been opened here against high-ranking military officials for food theft. Three quarters of the fuel stolen in military aviation was stolen here. In the same district, ammunition depots are most often blown up.
Finally, the third area of application of the forces of military justice is bribes to excuse oneself from the army. Their number is growing. A lieutenant colonel of the medical service from the military commissariat in Khakassia was sentenced to three years in prison. Something similar happened in the military registration and enlistment offices of Vladivostok and the Tula region. And in the Perm region, the military commissar himself, the general, was convicted. Some of the criminal cases were initiated thanks to the “hotline” in the Main Prosecutor’s Office for conscripts and their parents. If previously it was organized during conscription, now it will work all year round.
In general, the rather gloomy picture is brightened up only by one circumstance: the crime rate in the armed forces is 2.5 times lower than in the country.