How military immunity affected domestic violence

How war helps avoid responsibility for domestic violence

One way contract

Alla from Kurgan region is 35 years old. She divorced her ex-husband Konstantin in 2022, by which time the man had already been to the war in Ukraine. After returning from the front, he began to stalk his ex-wife: he followed her on the street, kept watch in public places. One day he attacked Alla right at her work, in a funeral service salon. He took advantage of the fact that the woman was alone in the room, beat her, tied her hands, and began breaking door and window handles so that she could not escape.

She was saved by a visiting visitor - he scared off the attacker. A few months later, her ex-husband attacked her again: he ambushed Alla at the entrance, grabbed her from behind, put her in the car and drove her into the forest, threatening to kill her along the way. At some point, the woman was able to escape, returned home, gathered her children and went to a crisis center in another region.

For a long time, the aggressor lived in the apartment of his former mother-in-law and refused to leave voluntarily. Through the court, the woman managed to evict him, but he continued to appear in the apartment, and on his last visit he removed all valuables from it. All this time, Konstantin called his ex-wife with threats, flaunting the fact that he was a former military man and had a weapon. The woman wrote a statement to the police in connection with the theft and threats.

As a result, Konstantin was detained and charged under several articles at once: kidnapping, misappropriation of a car and attempted murder. He was placed in a pre-trial detention center, but a few months later the man announced that he wanted to go to war. The criminal prosecution was suspended, he was released with the wording: “in connection with the conclusion of a contract for military service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the period of mobilization, during martial law or wartime.” In December 2024, he died in the war, and the case was closed.

According to Alla, the death of her ex-husband aroused conflicting feelings in her: the woman is sure that in this way he did not atone for his guilt before her and the children.

“On the one hand, now there is no threat and we live without fear, on the other hand, there is a feeling of some kind of wrongness, as if he received punishment for something other than what he did,” she told Cherta.

In August 2023, 28-year-old Polina was walking in a park on Bolshaya Ozernaya Street in St. Petersburg. There she ran into Rustam Ivanov, who decided to go to the toilet right on the playground. The girl reprimanded him, pointing out that the toilet was 20 meters away. The man got angry, began to insult Polina, after which he attacked her: he grabbed her by the neck, choked her, hit her on the head and threatened to kill her.

“If it weren’t for random witnesses who happened to be nearby, he would have continued to beat me and, perhaps, killed me,” the victim recalls. Passers-by came to the girl's aid and took her away from the rapist. Later, the police arrived when called.

After the attack, the girl did not leave the house for almost a month and worked remotely with a psychologist. Polina was recognized as a victim, the investigation into the case lasted almost a year, and when the investigation period expired, she learned that Rustam Ivanov had left for the front a week after the attack.

The investigator suspended the case with the wording: “Ivanov entered military service under a contract, is included in the lists of personnel, serves in a military unit and in the period from 09/02/2023 BC. is located in the area where the SVO is being conducted... Due to the lack of a real possibility of the suspect’s participation in the criminal case under clause 3 of part 1 of Art. 208 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.”

Polina wanted to bring him to justice, even if she had to wait for his return from the front. But this will never happen again - Rustam was killed in the war.

Avoid responsibility at SVO

Kristina from Togliatti is forty years old. She lived with her husband Ildar and their common minor children. When her husband started beating her, she went to the police and got him convicted of beating. Christina left her husband and moved to another apartment, but the aggressor continued to persecute her: in June 2024, Ildar attacked a woman right on the street, smashed her mobile phone, punched her in the face and threatened to kill her. The case was opened under the article of threat to murder. An investigation began, but four months later Christina learned that her ex-partner had gone to war. The case was suspended again.

Over the past year, Christina has sent several requests to reopen the case and tried to find out where the aggressor is now. Several times the police told her that he was still at war. In a conversation with Chertaya, the woman noted that what she was most afraid of was his sudden return and did not know how to defend herself if the degree of his aggression only increased after the fighting.

In January 2018, the brutal murder of Elena Verba was discussed in Russia. The policeman husband, whom she tried to leave several times, stabbed her 57 times while their young son slept in the next room. The man was sentenced to nine years, and on appeal in 2019, another year was added and his parental rights were deprived. The convict served six years and in January 2024 signed a contract for military service, after which he left the colony for the front. In January 2025, he was discharged due to injury. He did not return to the colony and is not responsible for the murder. The man has not paid child support for many years, and now his debt to his son exceeds a million rubles.

From prisoners to civilian volunteers

Before the start of the war in Ukraine, it was impossible to imagine that prisoners serving their sentences could leave them of their own free will. But then the military was needed at the front. First, from 2022 to 2023, Russian authorities allowed Wagner PMC and other private military companies, and subsequently the Russian Ministry of Defense, to recruit tens of thousands of convicts to participate in hostilities without any restrictions on the severity of the crime. In order for these prisoners to leave the colony, each of them was pardoned by President Putin.

A pardon is an individual act of mercy, and the law requires that the views of the victims or their relatives regarding the possibility of a pardon be taken into account. However, when people were released from prison to go to war, no one asked the opinion of the victims and their relatives. All consequences of a criminal record, including administrative supervision, were completely removed from pardoned convicts.

After the massive involvement of prisoners in the war, the authorities began to think about how to further expand the number of volunteers, and, starting in 2023, State Duma deputies were actively working on a new legislative framework.

Thus, on June 24, 2023, the Federal Law “On the Peculiarities of Prosecuting Persons Involved in a Special Military Operation” was adopted.
Now any person can avoid criminal liability, even if he was under investigation, if he enlists in military service and the crime committed is of minor or moderate gravity (with the exception of terrorist or extremist crimes).

Another six months later, on March 23, 2024, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was supplemented with a new article 78.1. It provides for exemption from criminal liability in connection with the conclusion of a contract for military service (with the exception of sexualized violence against children, crimes of a terrorist or extremist nature, treason and espionage).

Taking into account all the amendments adopted, today the law provides complete criminal immunity for military personnel, mobilized and any criminals who decide to participate in the war.

Lawyer, head of the Center for the Protection of Victims of Domestic Violence, Mari Davtyan, notes that an analysis of statistics from the Judicial Department of the Russian Federation shows: in 2024, the number of cases suspended at the trial stage for reasons not related to the search for the defendant or his illness increased 14 times compared to the pre-war period (17,176 in 2024 versus 1,214 in 2021). “The only rational explanation for this growth is the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of 2024, which allow the suspension of criminal cases when concluding a military contract at the trial stage,” comments Davtyan.

The lawyer explains that until 2024, Article 238 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation provided for four grounds for suspending a criminal case at the trial stage: search, serious illness, the court sending a request to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation (an extremely rare reason) and the absence of a real possibility of the accused participating in the process at a known location.

“In 2024, a new basis was added - the conscription of the accused for military service during the period of mobilization or in wartime. In practice, they began to suspend contractual matters even earlier, using the fourth basis - the lack of a real opportunity to participate. Thus, in 2022 and 2023, those defendants who were not taken into custody avoided trials,” says the lawyer.

In reality, there may be significantly more suspended criminal cases, since the statistics of the Judicial Department take into account only cases suspended at the trial stage, but not at the investigation stage.

According to Davtyan, such impunity by the military deprives victims of the opportunity to protect their rights and threatens their safety and the safety of their loved ones. At the same time, the state does not take any action to prevent crimes by military personnel or protect their potential victims.

“Today, members of the SVO are endowed with complete criminal immunity. That is, if a person under contract with the Ministry of Defense kills his wife or partner, then upon returning from the front the criminal case against him will be suspended, and if he receives awards at the front, they will stop altogether,” Davtyan sums up. — The laws adopted for the purposes of the SVO actually limited the rights of victims guaranteed by Article 52 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (“The state provides victims with access to justice and compensation for damage caused”). The legislator made it possible for the criminal to atone for his guilt before the state and society, but not before a specific victim. And while in ordinary domestic violence cases we are often able to bring the aggressor to real responsibility, in cases with the military we have no legal defense mechanisms.”

*At the request of the victims and for their safety, the names have been changed.