Probation law for fighters gives chance to Volgograd resident Melkonyan to commute sentence

Under the law adopted by the Russian State Duma, Arsen Melkonyan, who was repeatedly convicted in Volgograd after returning from the special military operation (SMO) zone, has a chance for probation (conditional imprisonment) in case he signs a new contract to go to the SMO.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 18, the court sentenced Melkonyan, accused of threatening to kill his wife, a judge and an employee of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN), to three years and two months in penal colony and a fine of 150,000 roubles. Melkonyan, who, having become a Private Military Company (PMC) fighter, failed to serve his term under the death case of Roman Grebenyuk, a realtor, stated that he intended to appeal against the verdict, and then would like to go back to the SMO zone.

Sergey Ivaschenko, a lawyer, said that Melkonyan became known in the Armenian Diaspora for his "protracted conflict" with his wife, which resulted in a divorce.

"According to Diaspora members, Arsen had repeatedly threatened his ex-wife. Many members of the community characterize him as unbalanced and hot-tempered ... He is a person with clearly deviant behaviour," Mr Ivaschenko has noted, suggesting that most likely, Melkonyan will again sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and avoid punishment. "But here a question arises whether such a law (on the chance to avoid prison by signing a contract with the Russian Armed Forces, – note of the "Caucasian Knot") can increase the number of war crimes committed by such persons during the SMO ... when these persons will be amnestied for their military merits," Mr Ivaschenko has supposed.

It is possible that Vladimir Putin will soon sign the law adopted on March 19 on the use of prisoners in the SMO, and in this case, "Melkonyan will have a chance to be released on parole due to his military service," Artyom Klyga, a lawyer, an advocacy manager in the Conscientious Objectors' Movement, has stated.

"Such a prisoner goes to the SMO not by convictions like volunteers. He has a different goal: to die at freedom, and not to get rotten in jail. Many of them have inclination to kill," said Valentin Bogdan, the head of the Fund for the Defence of Prisoners' Rights.

"We must take into account that such people's psyche is initially broken. This condition will worsen during their involvement in the SMO," Mr Bogdan has added.