In the Murmansk region, an officer was convicted for the first time for failure to comply with an order. He refused to return to the war • Doxa • RIMA

In the Murmansk region, an officer was convicted for the first time for failure to comply with an order. He refused to return to the war

The Zaozersky garrison military court sentenced senior lieutenant Dmitry Vasilets to 2 years and 5 months in a penal colony for refusing to participate in hostilities. The case was classified under the article about failure to comply with an order. The Military Ombudsman reports this.

Dmitry Vasilets from Primorsky Krai went to Ukraine in February 2022 and spent five months there. According to him, during this time he never shot at a person.

In July 2022, Vasilets refused to return to the combat zone. Then a criminal case was opened against him.

Coalition of lawyers and experts from Russian human rights organizations for conscious refusal of military service

Appeal to conscience

An Appeal to Conscience employee told DOXA the details of the Wasilets case.

Dmitry Vasilets was convicted for his deep, persistent and sincere [anti-war] beliefs.

In Russia, the courts are ready to ignore the constitutional right of people to freedom of conscience and alternative civil service. [Investigators] are ready to prosecute a soldier who tries to exercise these rights.

This verdict has no precedent nature and does not deprive other people of fighting for the right not to fight. However, now every military man who refuses to go to a combat zone must understand that he risks imprisonment.

Vasilets himself believes that he won, because now he will not have to fight in Ukraine. According to him, criminal punishment is not so terrible.

Previously, the Investigative Committee did not initiate a criminal case for refusing to participate in hostilities against the mobilized lieutenant Ruslan Zinoviev.

He refused to leave for the combat zone, citing insufficient training, and filed a lawsuit in the garrison military court in Rostov-on-Don.

As a result, on March 27, 2023, the investigator for especially important cases refused to initiate a criminal case against Zinoviev due to the lack of corpus delicti in his actions.