22:10, 14 October 2013

Salin: conscript from Astrakhan Region had his spleen removed after beating in military unit in Urals

Ivan Klemenko, 20, from Astrakhan, who took his regular military service in Military Unit 63494 in the city of Chebarkul, was taken to hospital after being beaten by an officer. In the hospital, surgeons amputated the soldier's spleen, said Anatoly Salin, a legal expert of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of the Astrakhan Region.

The incident occurred on September 21, but it became known only on October 14, after the above Committee of Soldiers' Mothers contacted the parents of Ivan Klemenko.

According to the parents, their son was repeatedly beaten and intimidated by the officer, but earlier the consequences were not so grave. The command of the unit tried by all means to conceal the facts of beating of the soldier from his parents; no information about the serious health condition of their son was reported to them, the edition named "Astra News" writes with reference to Anatoly Salin.

The Astrakhan Committee of Soldiers' Mothers has sent a letter on the incident to the Russian Ombudsman and the Minister of Defence, the "Kaspiy.info" reports.