Expert of Committee of Soldiers' Mothers asks prosecutor to help in finding those guilty of soldier's death in Astrakhan Region

Anatoly Salin, an expert on legal matters of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of the Astrakhan Region and an expert of the Presidential Council on Human Rights and Civil Society Development, has sent an appeal to the military prosecutor of the Znamensk Garrison asking assistance in carrying out an additional expertise in connection with the death of Private Vadim Mambetov and establish the persons guilty of his death.

Vadim Mambetov, a resident of the town of Kharabali in the Astrakhan Region, was drafted into the army in December 2012 and took his service in the town of Znamensk in the military unit 75376 of the Strategic Missile Forces. On June 15, 2013, the 19-year-old soldier, while working in a hangar, fell under the wheels of a heavy special vehicle, which dragged him for several meters. The soldier was taken to a military hospital, where he died on July 17, 2013.

"It follows from the case files that the commander of the m/u 75376 admitted an unprepared soldier to act as a driving instructor; thus, he exposed the untrained soldier to a risk, and (created) a threat to his life and lives of trainees," says Anatoly Salin.

"Unfortunately, these facts of soldiers' deaths are not unique. When sending their sons for a year to the army, their mothers quite naturally want to have them back safe and sound; and commanders must ensure it, instead of looking at the floor and spreading hands aside in front of the relatives," summed up the human rights activist.