Case on military's refusal to take part in hostilities reaches court in Krasnodar

Vadim Bai, a contract soldier, is accused of refusing to participate in hostilities; his case will be considered by the Krasnodar Garrison Military Court.

Vadim Bai is charged with two episodes of non-fulfilment an order given "during the martial law, in wartime, or in conditions of armed conflict or combat operations." This part of the article of the Criminal Code was introduced on September 24 this year. The contractor faces from two to three years in prison, the "Kavkaz.Realii"* project has informed.

In October, Pavel Chikov, a human rights defender, reported about the first such criminal case in his Telegram channel. "Investigators have established that the defendant, being a contract soldier, "failed to follow the order to leave on a service mission to participate in hostilities."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported earlier that a military court in Chechnya refused to reinstate the contract soldier. Magomed Elemkhanov, who was fired after he failed to follow the order to go "on a service mission to perform his duties at combat operations." By the law, he had the right not to take part in hostilities outside Russia, while after the annexation of new territories to Russia, a refusal to go there already entails criminal prosecution, a lawyer and human rights defenders have pointed out.