Militaries from Southern Russia sentenced for absence from their service units

The Southern District Military Court has refused to commute the sentences passed to the militaries for leaving their units, namely, to Ruslan Uteev, a mobilized man, sentenced to 5.5 years in colony by a court in Chechnya, and Pavel Trusov, a contract soldier, sentenced in Stavropol to six years.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that leaving a unit by a mobilized person is regarded as a military crime; and noted a trend towards tougher punishments.

In Grozny, Ruslan Uteev was sentenced to five years; he had left his place of service and then himself appeared at the military prosecutor's office, the "Kavkaz.Realii"* project has reported. He explained his absence from service by the need to help his mother and restore his health after treatment at hospital. The mitigating circumstances were Uteev's participation in the special military operation (SMO) and his status of a combat veteran.

In his appeal, he asked for a reduced sentence, but the above Military Court upheld the sentence of the Stavropol Garrison Military Court – six years in a penal colony.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.