The conscript from the Volgograd region was sent to a penal colony for refusing to return to the front.

The judicial panel on criminal cases of the Southern District Military Court upheld the sentence of a conscript from the Volgograd region in a case regarding refusal to participate in combat actions. The defense's appeal citing the convict's injury and unsatisfactory health condition was rejected.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in September 2022, Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilization. After that, residents of southern Russia repeatedly reported what they considered unlawful sending of men with serious health problems or exemptions from mobilization to the army.

The court refused to satisfy the claim of the conscript from the Volgograd region against the military enlistment office

Sergey Sergeev was found guilty of refusing to participate in combat actions (part 2.1 of article 332 of the Criminal Code of Russia) and was sentenced by the Volgograd garrison military court to two years and six months in a settlement colony.

Previously not convicted, Sergeev was called up for military service by mobilization in September 2022. As stated in the appellate ruling, he "on the territory of the military unit (...) after being informed of the order of the commander of the specified military unit, refused to comply with this order to depart to the territory of the special military operation (...) to participate in combat actions."

According to the defense's version presented in the appeal, there is insufficient evidence of the convict's guilt, and the testimonies of witnesses "do not correspond to reality": the convict, according to the defender, "due to the injury received and unsatisfactory health condition, repeatedly appealed to the command of the military unit with a request for medical examination and subsequent treatment." The defense also indicated that the first-instance court unjustifiably refused to appoint a military medical examination to determine the convict's fitness for military service.

The appellate instance found the defense's arguments unconvincing. The military medical commission recognized Sergeev as fit for military service with minor restrictions, and this conclusion "was not canceled in the established manner," the ruling states. The court referred to the internal service regulations of the Armed Forces, according to which "a subordinate is obliged to unconditionally execute the orders of the commander," and disagreement with the order can only be appealed after its execution.

Mobilization deprived contract soldiers from southern Russia of the opportunity to resign

"There were no valid reasons related to the health condition [of the convict] for his refusal to participate in combat actions," the ruling published on the court's website states. The first-instance court considered the petition for a military medical examination and justifiably rejected it, and the law does not require the court to justify this refusal in the sentence, the panel indicated.

The court recognized the injury received by the convict in combat actions as a mitigating circumstance, as well as the long treatment and veteran status. The aggravating circumstance was that the crime against military service was committed during mobilization – this, according to the court's wording, "affects the mobilization and operational capabilities of the state."

"The totality of the provided data about the convict's personality allowed the first-instance court to impose [on him] the only prescribed type of punishment for a term close to the minimum," the ruling notes. The panel saw no grounds for imposing a lighter punishment or a suspended sentence.

The sentence was left unchanged, and the defense's appeal was denied. A complaint against this ruling can be submitted to the Cassation Military Court. Caucasian Knot currently has no comments from Sergeev or his defense.

Caucasian Knot also reported that in May, the Southern District Military Court recognized as lawful the refusal to return a contract soldier from Kaspisk, Ivan Korobov, from the combat zone while his claim against the commander and the head of the hospital was being considered. The serviceman claimed that he was sent to the front without mandatory medical examination, and existing diseases do not allow him to fully perform combat tasks.